Besana gets welcome berth at gymnastics worlds

MANILA, Philippines – Juancho Miguel Besana is hoping to squeeze in eyeing a historic Asian Games medal in Hangzhou, China and seeking a Paris Olympics berth in the World Artistic Gymnastics Championships in Antwerp, Belgium late this year.

It came to be after Besana was informed in two separate letters from the International Gymnastics Federation that he had qualified to the Antwerp tilt in vault and horizontal bar after the original owners of the two spots begged off.

Gymnastics Association of the Philippines president Cynthia Carrion Norton welcomed the news as the country will now have four from the original three early qualifiers in Carlos Yulo, Aleah Finnegan and Kylee Kvamme who will eye a place in next year’s Paris Games.

It is not yet known though how the 19-year-old Besana could manage seeing action in both the Asiad, which winds up on the September 29, and the World tilt, which unfurls the next day.

Besana has been tasked to spearhead the team that also included fellow Phnom Penh Southeast Asian Games gold medalist John Ivan Cruz in the absence of Yulo, who has focused on nothing less than securing a slot to Paris and has skipped Hangzhou.