TOKYO Olympian Carlos Yulo captured his first medal in the 2023 Asian Gymnastics Championships in Singapore on Thursday.
The 23-year old Yulo settled for a silver medal in the men’s individual all-around event, with a score of 85.930, behind champion, Japan’s Shinnosuke Oka, who tallied 86.065.
Another Japanese bet in Takeru Kitazono took third with 85.431.
The performance was good enough, though, for Yulo to earn a spot in the World Championships in Antwerp, Belgium this September.
Yulo also took the lead in the qualifiers for floor with 14.966 points, vault with 14.833, and parallel bars with 15.066, and placed second in the rings (14.3), to earn a spot in the apparatus finals on Saturday.
Yulo and teammates Juancho Besana, Justine de Leon and Justine Timbang tallied 237.193 points for seventh place in the team all-around.
He will also compete in the horizontal bar finals, despite originally placing ninth as only two representatives per federation are allowed to qualify.
China had three gymnasts finishing in the top eight, allowing Yulo to be the next best athlete to qualify.
Meanwhile, all eyes are on 20-year-old Fil-American Emma Malabuyo, who will debut for Team PH in the women’s division.
Malabuyo was a promising young gymnast for Team USA, placing second in the all-around as a junior at the 2017 U.S. Championships.
She joined the Team Philippines after injuries affected her senior career with Team USA.
After missing out on the 2018 and 2019 U.S. Championships, Malabuyo bounced back with a great performance at the 2021 U.S. Championships, where she finished fourth in the all-around.
Then, Malabuyo spent 2022 and 2023 with good performances, while with the University of California-Los Angeles women’s gymnastics team, coming up with a fourth-place finish on the balance beam at the US National Collegiate Athletic Association early this year.