Philippines earn sixth place finish in Asiad Men's Team Gymnastics

c/o POC/PSC Media

 

Team Philippines finished sixth in the men's artistic gymnastics team final of the 20th Asian Games on Wednesday at the Nagoya City General Gymnasium Rainbow Hall in Japan.

Filipino gymnasts double Olympic gold medalist Carlos Yulo, FIG World Cup gold medalist Eldrew Yulo, Southeast Asian Games medalists Miguel Besana and Justine Ace De Leon as well as Zachary Nunez scored a total of 227.359 points.

"For me, personally, malayo pa talaga tayo. Siguro bilang team, kung i-goal natin manalo, sobrang layo pa talaga. But at the same time nakakatuwa po kasi first time po yata na makapasok ng finals sa Asian Games bilang Team Philippines po," the elder Yulo shares.

"So with that result po, sobrang ako natutuwa doon. And looking back sa mga nangyari, it's really a good result already for us, Filipinos po. So, ayun po, natutuwa ako sa performance namin today. [We] really did our best and nag-all out talaga lahat. Pagod na pagod na talaga eh. Wala na din maibigay yung iba. Pero lumaban tayo ng buong puso," he added.

Yulo once again topped the floor exercise with 14.266 points, while bouncing back in the vault where he scored 14.566 points.

"For me, stepping stone ko para sa akin yun na mas magperform well for tomorrow and sa susunod na bukas. And today, yung vault ko. Super comfortable ako today. And relaxed lang talaga yung pakiramdam ko kanina. So it went really, really well in my opinion. And ayun yung kailangan ko i-replicate sa susunod na bukas," he said.

The Olympic gold medalist and his brother Eldrew will now turn their focus to the men's floor exercise final slated to take place on Thursday, as they aim to strike it big time for Team Philippines supported by the Philippine Olympic Committee and Philippine Sports Commission.

"Gusto ko talaga i-showcase yung pagiging artistic ng gymnastic ko and yung elegance po na ang tina-target ko talaga na ma-perform po sa nakakakabang sitwasyon. Pero I really wanted to be really graceful tomorrow and focus talaga sa mas magandang performance more than the result po," Carlos said.

"Sa floor, sobra akong naramdaman yung floor mismo. Like, parang nag-connect kami ng floor. Well, even though na my last pass is not that good or di siya yung expect ko, but alam ko na kung ano yung feeling or alam ko na kung ano yung next move ko for tomorrow. alam ko na kung ano yung i-change ko and kung paano ko siya i-change," Eldrew shared.

Carlos also qualified for the vault and parallel bars finals, while Eldrew will likewise compete in the horizontal bar finals.

Miguel Besana also advanced to the vault finals, the same event he won gold in the 2023 Southeast Asian Games in Cambodia.