By KRISTEL SATUMBAGA
Carlos Yulo bounced back from the floor exercise mishap by advancing to the rings and parallel bars finals in the FIG Artistic Gymnastics World Cup Series in Baku, Azerbaijan Thursday, March 9.
The Tokyo Olympian impressed the judges and finished second in parallel bars qualifications, scoring 15.333 behind top qualifier Curran Phillips of the United States (15.500).
The two-time world champion registered 8.833 in execution with a 6.5 degree of difficulty in his routine.
Yulo also showed finesse in the rings by placing fifth with 14.166 after scoring 8.466 in execution with a 5.7 degree of difficulty.
Hometown bet Nikita Simonov topped the qualifiers with 14.733, followed by Iran’s Mahdi Ahmad Kohani (14.500) and Vietnam’s Nguyen Van Khanh Phong (14.233).
To the surprise of his followers, Yulo failed to progress in final of the floor exercise – an event he ruled in the second leg last week held in Doha, Qatar – after landing 21st.
Though he logged 6.3 in the degree of difficulty in his routine, Yulo could only produce 7.100 in execution. He was assessed 0.300 for a total of 13.100.
The Filipino bet seeks more finals appearances when he competes in vault and horizontal bar Friday, March 10.
This is the third leg of the World Cup series with Yulo winning the parallel bars bronze in the first leg in Cottbus, Germany.
He bounced back in the second leg in Doha, Qatar with a gold in floor exercise, silver in parallel bars and bronze in vault.
