Manila’s finest athlete Carlos Yulo continued to stamp his class in the 9th Senior Artistic Gymnastics Asian Championships at the Aspire Dome on Friday evening in Doha, Qatar.
The 22-year old Tokyo Olympics veteran picked up a gold medal and two more seats to the world championships on Day 3 of the four-day meet.
Yulo’s gold medal finish in the floor exercises came a day after he settled for a silver medal, in the men’s all-around.
The 2019 world champion tallied 14.933 points after he hurdled a tough stand from his Chinese, Japanese and Korean rivals.
South Korea’s Kim Hansol and China’s Jiaxing Yang settled for second and third respectively, after collecting similar 14.333 points.
The feat earned Yulo the third spot in the FIG Artistic World Championships to be held in Liverpool, England from October 29 to November 6.
His first two qualification spots came after his second-place finish in all-around on Thursday and a fourth place performance in the rings during the late Friday evening finals
Yulo’s wowed the judges, according to observers, and he displayed confidence on the floor and in the presence of top gymnasts from traditional heavyweights, China, Japan and South Korea.
After claiming 14 points in the vault, Yulo took fourth behind gold medallist Lan Xing Yu of China (14.5), with Ahmad Kohani Mahdi of Iran in second with 14.33, and Taipei’s Lin Guan Yi in third (14.2).
Two more podium finishes are on Yulo’s radar, who is a finalist in the vault and parallel bars.
In the women’s action, South Korea’s Seojong Yeo (14.084) grabbed the vault gold, while Japan’s Shoko Miyata took the silver (13.884) and India’s Pranati Nayak finished third for the bronze (13.367).
Jordan’s Ahmed Abu Al Soud pulled an upset in the pommel horse, beating Iran’s Saeedreza Keikha to claim the title. The podium-finishers and fourth and fifth placers will also qualify for the world meet.
On Thursday, 21-one-year-old Cong Shi took the men’s all-around gold to contribute to China’s domination in the Asian meet with 83.33 points, ahead of Yulo, who came second with 83.867 points.
Defending champions China swept the men’s and women’s team, and the men’s and women’s all-around titles on Thursday.