Gymnasts ready for golden harvest

MANILA, Philippines — The Philippine contingent of 22 gymnasts will compete for medals in 20 events at the Southeast Asian (SEA) Games in the Rizal Memorial Coliseum on Dec. 1-9 with world floor exercise champion Caloy Yulo tipped to lead the charge for a golden harvest.

Gymnastics Association of the Philippines (GAP) president Cynthia Carrion said Yulo and his male artistic gymnastics teammates are flying in from Tokyo today with Japanese coach Munehiro Kugimiya. Reyland Capellan, Justine Ace de Leon and Jag Gywnn Timbang trained in Singapore before moving to Tokyo to join Yulo in camp.

GAP secretary-general Bettina Pou said the women’s artistic gymnastics squad of Tina Onofre, Mariana Hermoso, Chloe Gatlabayan and Mya Wilson trained at the Infinite Bounds Center in Plano, Texas while the women’s rhythmic gymnastics individual cast of Dannah Sabio, Nicole Medina, Reyna Jean Cornel and Daniela de la Pisa and the women’s rhythmic gymnastics group all-around team of Jean Coluscusin, A. J. Melgar, Katrina Loretizo, Andrea Emperado and Divina Sembrano checked in at the Shinohara Academy in Atlanta with coaches Dr. Minoru (Shino) and Nancy Shinohara.

The aerobics women’s singles contestant Charmain Dolar, mixed pair of Dolar and Carl Joshua Tangonan and trio of Lynette Moreno, Queenie Briones and Christopher Quevedo stayed in Manila to train with foreign coaches Lily Joly of France and Aldrin Rodriguez of Mexico. The other aerobics coaches are Allena Rius and Armando Asuncion. Pou said Rodriguez specializes in difficulties and Joly, dance elements. 

Only the athletes in aerobics have been assigned their events. The others will be determined in the coaches’ meeting today. The coaches for the men’s artistic gymnastics are Kugimiya and Aldrin Castaneda. The coaches for the women’s artistic gymnastics are Tammy de Guzman and Van Simon Talingting. The coaches for rhythmic gymnastics individual are Sheryl Contillo, Marion Ignacio and Nancy Shinohara. Whynn Reroma is the rhythmic gymnastics group coach.

The events in men’s artistic gymnastics are floor exercise, pommel horse, parallel bars, vault, still rings, high bar and individual all-around. For women’s artistic gymnastics, the events are floor exercise, vault, balance beam, uneven bars and overall. The women’s rhythmic gymnastics individual events are hoop, ball, ribbon and clubs. There is one gold medal at stake in women’s rhythmic gymnastics group all-around. In aerobics, the events are women’s singles, mixed pair and trio with optional genders.

Carrion said Federation Internationale de Gymnastique (FIG) president Morinari Watanabe of Japan and Vassily Titov of Russia are arriving to witness the SEA Games. Watanabe will be in town on Dec. 2-5 and Titov, Dec. 2-4. “We are honored by their presence which will be historic,” said Carrion. “They usually attend world competitions, Olympics and sometimes the Asian Games but never before the SEA Games.”

Pou said Yulo is in line for seven gold medals. “Caloy’s the only one sure to do seven events,” she said. “The rest of the boys will compete in their specialization. Some will do only vault and floor while others will perform depending on where they excel.” Carrion said she’s expecting a bumper harvest from the gymnasts, particularly Yulo, Capellan, Onofre, De la Pisa and the aerobics singles and mixed pair. “We got our venue (Rizal Memorial Coliseum) quite nice,” she noted.

The competition begins at      2 p.m. with the qualifications for the men’s individual all-around on Dec. 1. The final events will be in aerobics on Dec. 9 with the women’s singles, mixed pair and trio.