Caloy back in Tokyo

MANILA, Philippines — After a brief three-day stay in Manila to visit family, gymnast Caloy Yulo flew back to his training camp in Tokyo yesterday with a resolve to work even harder in preparation for the World Championships in Liverpool on Oct. 26-Nov. 6 and the Olympic qualifying series next year.

The other day, Yulo went to Malacañang with Gymnastics Association of the Philippines president Cynthia Carrion to pick up his P1.8 million check from Executive Secretary Salvador Medialdea as President Duterte’s reward for his recent SEA Games performance. His total incentive package amounted to P4 million for five golds and two silvers. PSC will deposit P1.8 million and POC P400,000 to his account.

At the Asian Artistic Gymnastics Championships in Doha last week, Yulo won gold in floor, vault and parallel bars. He took the silver in the individual all-around. “Unfortunately, by law, Caloy isn’t entitled to a reward from government for his showing in Doha because the rule is there must be at least 45 countries in the competition to qualify for an incentive,” said Carrion. “But PSC commissioner Celia Kiram promised to look into it and recommend a cash prize just the same. We’ll never be able to gather 45 countries for an Asian event because there are countries that don’t participate. In Doha, we had about 35 countries including China, Japan, Jordan, Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan and Korea.”

Yulo said his best performance in Doha was in floor on the first day of the finals. But it was during his routine in parallel bars on the second day when he felt so proud of himself. “Masakit ang aking ulo at sinisipon ako,” he recalled. “Nagkasakit ako pero pinilit ko mag-perform. Naiyak ako pagkatapos. Iba ang level ng competition sa Asia compared to SEA Games. Dapat mataas ang degree of difficulty sa Asia kasi malalakas ang kalaban. Marami pa akong kailangan ma-improve, sa mental, technique, quality of routine.” Yulo rated where he’s at in six categories with 100 percent as the highest. He said he’s at 70 percent in degree of difficulty, 70-75 percent in mental toughness, 70-80 percent in conditioning and 80-90 percent in nutrition, strength and technique.