By KRISTEL SATUMBAGA
Carlos Yulo will have another company when he sees action in the FIG Artistic Gymnastics World Championships in Antwerp, Belgium in September.
This came after Juancho Miguel Besana was notified by the International Gymnastics Federation that he is also qualified to compete in the vault and horizontal bar events of the said world tourney.
In two separate letters to the Gymnastics Association of the Philippines, the international federations’ sports events manager Stephane Detraz informed the Besana has been given a “MAG Apparatus Specialist quota place” on the two apparatus after quota places meant for other national federations declined, opening up spots for him.
“As a reminder, Apparatus Specialists can only compete only on the Apparatus they qualified for,” Detraz wrote.
It was a milestone achievement both for GAP and Besana as the Philippines will now have four gymnasts vying for coveted Olympic berths in the world meet.
Apart from Yulo, also taking part in the world meet are Aleah Finnegan and Kylee Kvamme.
Problem for Besana is that he was already tasked to lead the PH team in the Asian Games in Hangzhou, China after Yulo decided to skip the event to focus on the worlds,
The artistic gymnastics competition in the Asiad will run from Sept. 24 to 29, while the worlds will start on Sept. 30.
Still, Besana and his coach Reyland Capellan, welcome this good challenge, knowing that opportunities like these do not come so often.
