Yulo shines in Japan
Carlos Yulo got a good grade in his return to action in the 53rd All-Japan Senior Masters Gymnastics Championships in Gunma, Japan last Tuesday. Yulo, who already punched a ticket to the Tokyo Olympics, registered a total of 83.398 points in six disciplines to finish 12th out of 91 participants in this prestigious tourney.
Former world champion Kazuma Kaya grabbed the gold medal with 86.998 points while Wataru Tanigawa and former Asian Games champion Kenta Chiba took the silver and bronze medals, respectively, with 85.965 and 85.166 points, respectively.
He came out as 12th out of almost 100 competitors — that itself was already a great start for Caloy.
Competing in Japan is nothing new for Yulo.
He has been training with noted Japanese mentor Munehiro Kugimiya in Tokyo for the past couple of years, prompting him to claim the silver medal in the World Artistic Gymnastics in Stuttgart, German las year that served as his ticket to the Summer Games. Gymnastics Association of the Philippines president Cynthia Carrion was impressed, saying that despite failing to land on the podium, Yulo still had a gallant stand in his first ever competition since Japan went on lockdown last February.
It’s a big achievement. He had good scores in his events.
“He came out as 12th out of almost 100 competitors — that itself was already a great start for Caloy,” said Carrion, a former sports commissioner and incumbent director of the Philippine Olympic Committee. Actually, Yulo started slow in his pet event — floor exercise — as he garnered only 13.466 points followed by another underwhelming performance in pommel horse with 12.900 points.
But the 20-year-old dynamo stormed back with an impressive showing in the vault event, where he posted 14.733 points. Then, he notched 14.100 in the rings event followed by 14.066 points in parallel bars and 13.633 in the horizontal bar apparatus for a total of 83.398 points.
“It’s a big achievement. He had good scores in his events. Of course, there were some disciplines where he was not strong, but it was still okay,” Carrion said, adding that her prized ward is just in the early stretch of his preparation for the Summer Games. “We believe that the more competitions for Caloy, the better it would be for his development.” “We’ll see if he can go to other competitions, but it would just be within Japan if ever. He still has a lot of months to prepare and continue training.”