Gymnast Carlos Yulo 2nd Pinoy to enter 2020 Tokyo Olympics

MANILA, Philippines – The country was counting on gymnast Carlos Yulo to qualify to the 2020 Tokyo Olympics.

He delivered.

The 19-year-old Yulo advanced to the finals after he placed seventh in the men’s floor exercise and 18th out of 160 athletes in the individual all-around of the 49th FIG Artistic Gymnastics World Championships in Stuttgart, Germany yesterday that was enough to earn him a spot to the quadrennial summer games.

Yulo booked a Tokyo berth via Olympic allocation from his effort in the individual all-around since some of the athletes who ended up ahead him have already made the cut.

He thus became the second Filipino to make it to the Olympics next to pole vaulted EJ Obiena, who cleared 5.81 meters in a competition in Chiara, Italy last month to make it to Tokyo.

Yulo will have a chance to match, if not eclipse, the bronze medal he snared in this same competition last year in Doha, Qatar as he plunges back into action in the finals Friday.

And there are high hopes he will deliver again.

Already, Yulo is the favorite to rake in gold medals in the 30th Southeast Asian Games in December at the Philsports Arena in Pasig City where he is projected to prevail in the seven events he is entered into — floor exercise, vault, parallel bars, high bar, rings, pommel horse and individual all-around.

The recent feat of Yulo, whose trip and foreign exposures have been bankrolled by the Philippine Sports Commission, can be attributed to his training in Japan under Japanese coach Munehiro Kugiyama for several months.