By Kristel Satumbaga
Carlos Yulo showed his readiness for next year’s Tokyo Games when he secured a bronze medal in vault event of the recent 2020 All-Japan Senior Gymnastics Championships in Takasaki, Japan.
The 20-year-old world champion tallied 14.733 points to tie Japanese Kenzo Shirai for third in the event where Wataru Kanigawa and Keisuke Asato were declared co-winners.
Kanigawa, a 2016 Rio Olympics bronze medalist, and Asato both posted 14.900.
Yulo, however, was a big letdown in his favorite floor exercise, the event that earned for himself a ticket to next year’s Olympics, by sharing 19th place with Tatsuki Tanaka and Kentaro Yunoki with a dismal 13.966 showing.
The PH bet also failed to make the podium in pommel horse (12.900), still rings (14.100), parallel bars (14.066) and horizontal bar (13.633).
His performances only earned him 12th place in the all-around with 83.398, a far cry from multiple world championship medalist Kazuma Kaya with 86.998.
Kaya, who is also competing for the Tokyo Olympics, also captured the gold in parallel bars and silver in pommel horse.
This is the first tournament for Yulo after a long layoff due to the pandemic. His last competition was at the 2019 Southeast Asian Games held in the country where he collected two golds and five silvers.
Yulo hopes to regain his composure and improve his future performances when he continues his extensive training in Japan under Japanese coach Munehiro Kugimiya.
