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Caloy Yulo begins quest for more world gymnastics glory

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Manolo Pedralvez

<div class="embed-wrap"><figure data-feedback="fb:likes,fb:comments"><img alt="Caloy Yulo reacts during the men" s="" parallel="" bars="" competition="" during="" at="" the="" Artistic="" Gymnastics="" Asian="" Championships="" in="" Doha="" on="" June="" Karim="" AFP="" src="https://sa.kapamilya.com/absnews/abscbnnews/media/2022/news/10/31/caloy.jpg"/><figcaption>Caloy Yulo reacts during the men&#x27;s parallel bars competition during at the Artistic Gymnastics Asian Championships in Doha on June 18, 2022. Karim Jaafar, AFP/file</figcaption></figure></div>AFTER three days of intensive workouts, Carlos Edriel Yulo springs into action Monday (early Tuesday morning, in Manila) in the men’s all-around qualifying competition of the 51st Artistic Gymnastics World Championships at the M&amp;S Bank Arena in Liverpool, England.Under the close watch of Japanese coach Munehiro Kugimiya, Yulo capped his training last Saturday and took a day’s rest Sunday before competing in the men’s all-around qualifiers in subdivision 6 beginning at 9 p.m. (4 a.m. Tuesday in Manila).“Caloy’s final workout went fine (Saturday). Our only concern is the order of rotation in the events that once he begins his competition on Monday,” noted gymnastics chief Cynthia Carrion, who watched the athlete in his last practice, Sunday. Carrion said that based on the start list, the gymnast will have his pet event — the floor exercise — as his final performance that begins with the pommel horse, followed by the vault, rings, horizontal bar, in that order.“We requested that the floor exercise be moved up in the rotation but the organizers said that it could no longer be altered,” the Gymnastics Association of the Philippines president said. “He might be tired by the time he comes to the floor exercise.”<ul class="op-related-articles">	<li><a href="https://news.abs-cbn.com/sports/10/25/22/very-good-shape-yulo-targets-gold-at-gymnastics-worlds">&#x27;Very good shape&#x27; Yulo targets gold at gymnastics worlds</a></li></ul>But given his present fitness, Carrion was guardedly optimistic that Yulo’s stamina would enable him to overcome the challenge and still do well in his last apparatus. It will be the fourth straight appearance by the diminutive Filipino in the global gymnastics showcase since making his debut in the 2018 edition in Doha, Qatar and bringing home his first medal – a bronze in the men’s floor exercise.A year later, Yulo stepped up his performance and bagged a historic gold medal in the picturesque German city of Stuttgart in the men’s floor exercise while emerging as the country’s second qualifier to the Tokyo Olympic Games after pole vaulter Ernest John Obiena.He flopped in his pet event at both the Olympics and the worlds in Kitakyushu, Japan last year, but bounced from those setbacks strong at the Kitakyuhsu Municipal City Gymnasium in clinching a gold and silver medal, respectively, in the men’s vault and parallel bars of the latter competition.Hampered by an elbow injury, Yulo only saw action in three events of the world meet last year and, back in fighting form, aims to compete in all six men’s events in a bid of stretching his winning drive in the home of the famed British band the Beatles.He has upped the ante, declaring in an online press conference last week that he is seeking for a top 6 finish in the tough men’s all-around event plus a gold each in the men’s floor exercise, vault and parallel bars.The top 24 performers in the qualifiers will advance to the all-around finals on Friday while the leading eight finishers in each of the apparatus enter the two-day apparatus competitions on Saturday and Sunday, respectively.To achieve his goal in the all-around, Yulo, who looks up to Japanese world and Olympic men’s all-around champion Kohei Uchimura as role model, said he must score at least a cumulative score 86.00 points, or better than the 84.091 tally he had in the 2019 Stuttgart competition.Meeting his target score would actually would actually be good enough for bronze in the event since Ukrainian bronze medalist Ilia Kovtun garnered 84.899 points the last time around, with China’s Zhang Boheng (87.981) Japan’s Daiki Hashimoto (87.964) getting gold and silver, respectively.To boost his chances in recapturing the vault gold, Yulo has integrated the “ri se gwang,” a front handspring double pike one-and-a-half twist originally executed by Rio Olympic games men’s vault gold medalist Ri Se-gwang of North Korea.Standing in his way are Tokyo Olympic gold medalist Artem Dolgopyat of Israel and defending world floor exercise Nicola Bartolini of Italy, who are bound to give the Pinoy gymnast stiff competition in the tournament.The first Italian to bag a gold in the world gymfest, Bartolini said he was more focused on the team event rather than defending his title at the close of the podium training last Saturday.<ul class="op-related-articles">	<li><a href="https://news.abs-cbn.com/sports/10/28/22/how-caloy-yulo-assessed-his-first-pre-worlds-workout">How Caloy Yulo assessed his first pre-world championships workout</a></li></ul>“I’m not expecting anything. I’m here to compete with the team. Obviously, I’m here to try to defend my title, but the most important thing is the team. Two months ago we won the (team) silver medal at the Europeans and this was a historic moment for us,” he said.<ul class="op-related-articles">	<li><a href="https://news.abs-cbn.com/sports/10/01/22/caloy-yulos-coach-sets-goal-3-golds-at-paris-olympics">Caloy Yulo&#x27;s coach sets goal: Win 3 golds at Paris 2024 Olympics</a></li></ul>The Top 3 finishers in the men’s team event will also book tickets to the 2024 Tokyo Olympic Games.Dolgopyat, who placed second behind Yulo in the men’s floor exercise in Stuttgart three years ago, was just as keen in adding a world medal gold to his collection after his triumphant stint in the Tokyo Summer Games. “It (winning the Olympic gold) gave me what I was dreaming of. But they changed the points code after Tokyo and this gives me even more drive than I had before to win another medal,” the said the Israeli, whose morale will be on a high after ruling the same event in the European meet last August.<div>FROM THE ARCHIVES</div><figure class="op-interactive"><iframe allow="autoplay; fullscreen" frameBorder="0" height="100%" id="ivsplayer01" scrolling="no" src="https://player.ivideosmart.com/ivsplayer/v4/dist/html/iframe-src.html?iframeid=ivsplayer01&amp;key=e8c22c015ca9eafa76f1e3edfa03c603&amp;spid=3001339&amp;vid=2040001" width="100%"></iframe></figure><div class="iwantbar">Watch more News on <a href="https://www.iwanttfc.com/#!/browse/Genres/News/tag_id_genres/id_news" target="_blank">iWantTFC</a></div>

Yulo said he is eyeing a Top 6 finish in the tough men's all-around event, and a gold each in the men’s floor exercise, vault and parallel bars.