By KRISTEL SATUMBAGA
Carlos Yulo displayed a flawless performance and captured the gold medal in parallel bars at the FIG Artistic Gymnastics World Cup series in Baku, Azerbaijan Saturday, March 11.
The diminutive Tokyo Olympian executed a crisp, complicated routine to wow the judges and tally 15.400 points, beating heavy favorite Illia Kovtun of Ukraine.
Kovtun, who dominated the apparatus in the first two legs of the series in Cottbus, Germany and Doha, Qatar executed his own complex routine with precision but could only score 15.366 for the silver medal.
France’s Bernard Cameron-Lie grabbed the bronze medal with 14.600.
The victory was a revenge of sorts for Yulo, who managed with a silver medal behind Kovtun in the Doha leg last week.
It also came a day after qualifying to the vault final after finishing second with a 14.916 average behind top qualifier Mahdi Olfati of Iran, who scored 14.949.
Registering 5.6 degree of difficulty on both vaults, Yulo showcased a flawless performance by posting 9.400 on his first vault for a 15.000 score and 9.233 on his second vault for 14.833.
Other qualifiers include Israel’s Andrey Medvedev (14.700), Romania’s Gabriel Burtanete(14.699), Italy’s Nicola Bartolini (14.399), Croatia’s Aurel Benovic (14.399), Great Britain’s Harry Hepworth (14.333) and Hong Kong’s Shek Wai Hung (14,183).
The two-time world champion Yulo also hopes to add more gold medals in his war chest after qualifying in the rings final after a fifth-place performance in Thursday’s qualifications.
