REIGNING world men’s vault champion Carlos Edriel Yulo springs back to action today for the first time this year when he competes in the Emperor’s Cup 76th All-Japan Gymnastics Individual General Championship that opened at the Tokyo Metropolitan Gymnasium in Japan yesterday.
Carrying the colors of Teikyo University, Yulo is vying in his inaugural tournament since bagging a gold medal in the men’s vault plus a silver in the parallel bars of the 40th FIG World Artistic Gymnastics Championships in Kitakyushu, Japan last November.
The four-day tournament began with women’s qualifying competition yesterday. Yulo joins other top gymnasts from all over Japan in the men’s qualifiers today.
The men’s and women’s finals of the competition will be held tomorrow and Sunday, respectively.
The Emperor’s Cup serves as an ideal tune-up for the Gymnastics Association of the Philippines protégé, who is expected to stamp his class in the Vietnam Southeast Asian Games next month after dominating the 2019 Philippine edition with two gold and five silver medals.
Given the gymnast’s superior talent and skills, it isn’t farfetched the diminutive Filipino dynamo will once again emerge as the country’s most bemedalled athlete in the Vietnam Games opening on May 12 at the My Dinh National Stadium in the capital of Hanoi.
The SEA Games artistic gymnastics competitions will be held from May 13 to 16 at the Quan Ngua Gymnasium, 9.5 kilometers northeast of the My Dinh Sports Complex.
