SEA Games: Carlos Yulo wins gymnastics gold; Philippine men’s team gets silver

By: Marc Anthony Reyes - 3 years ago

Carlos Yulo during the Floor Exercise event in the men’s individual all-around at the 31st SEA Games. SEA GAMES POOL PHOTO

World champion Carlos Edriel Yulo bagged the gold medal in the men’s individual all-around and towed along Team Philippines to silver medal in men’s team event Friday in the 31st Southeast Asian Games in Quan Ngura Sports Palace here.

The 22-year-old Olympian garnered 85.150 points to edge hometown bets Le Thanh Tung (84.050) and Dinh Phuong Thanh (82.450) in the event which was one of the Filipino’s targets in this meet.

“It’s not bad first day at all,” said Gymnastics Association of the Philippines president Cynthia Carrion who predicted four golds from the Tokyo Olympian. “Yeah, we are expecting more, so much more actually.”

The victory also qualified Yulo in the finals of the six apparatuses whose individual finals will be held Sunday and Monday.

“All I’m thinking is how to perform well and I think we did well,” said Yulo who competed in the biennial meet with a complete team behind him for the first time.

Juancho Miguel Besana, John Matthew Vergara, Jann Gwynn Timbang and Justine Ace de Leon completed the Philippine men’s team which fell to Vietnam in team event.

Team Philippines scored 301.600 leading the field after the morning session but Vietnam stormed in the afternoon with an overall performance worth 321,250. Singapore placed third with 297.650.