Carlos Yulo’s younger brother could train in Japan someday.
The Gymnastics Association of the Philippines is considering and studying this possibility of duplicating the success of the 19-year-old Yulo in the 2019 World Artistic Gymnastics Championships in Stuttgart, Germany.
GAP secretary general Bettina Pou bared that the young Karl Eldrew are among five other kids whom Japanese coach Munehiro Kugiyama are training to become world class gymnasts.
“The boys were under development since they were five years old. Now they are older,” said Pou.
Pou said they will decide on the boys’ fate once they reach the junior level.
The 11-year-old Eldrew, who seeks to follow the footsteps of his older brother, is a three-time Palarong Pambansa champion, and will seek his fourth and final crown in the elementary boys’ level next year.
Yulo, who scored a personal-best 84.048 points, won an historic gold medal in the floor exercise finals with 15.3 points while in Stuttgart.
And this the first time a Filipino has won a gold at a world gymnastics event.
Pou said the current training program for kids at the Rizal Memorial Sports Complex have been halted.
Repairs and renovations at the gymnastics gymnasium has compelled the GAP to relocated their training facilities at the Colegio de San Agustin in Makati.
Yulo became the second Filipino to earn a slot to the 2020 Tokyo Olympics.
He joins pole vaulter Ernest John Obiena, who made it after getting ranked no. 10 in the world.
Japanese coach Munehiro Kugiyama, who has been training Yulo for the last four years, confirmed Yulo’s qualification following talks with Gymnastics Association of the Philippines president Cynthia Carrion.
“Caloy performed beautifully and he is no. 1 in the list in as much as Russia, China and Japan already qualified in Doha Qatar last year,” said Kugiyama.
Yulo almost qualified to the Olympics when he made it to the floor exercise finals of the 2019 World Cup of Gymnastics Qualifiers in Melbourne, Australia last February.
