PARIS: Carlos Yulo vies Wednesday in the first of his three final events in the 2024 Olympics artistic gymnastics – the all events where keen eyes will be on him as he performs the floor exercise and the vault.
Gymnastics Association of the Philippines president Cynthia Carrion is realistic Yulo has a slim chance in the all-around competition.
But Yulo will be there in what could well be a preview to an anticipated Yulo moment in floor exercise and vault finals at the Bercy Arena this weekend.
The all-around championship, featuring 24 finalists, is expected to be a showdown among the Chinese and Japanese aces with Fil-British bet Jake Jarman as a dark horse.
Daiki Hashimoto has a shot at becoming the third Japanese to be back-to-back champ in this event.
Sawao Kato achieved the feat in 1968 and 1972, then Kohei Uchimura replicated it in 2012 and 2016.
Shinnosuke Oka is another Japanese contender in the all-events topped by Boheng Zhang of China in the qualifying, with compatriot Ruoteng Xiao coming at f
ourth.
Also in the mix in the final are Great Britain’s Joe Fraser, Ukraine’s Oleg Verniaiev and Illia Kovtun, Italians Yumin Abbadini and Mario Macchiati, Americans Frederick Richard and Paul Juda, Swiss Matteo Giubellini and Florian Langenegger, Hungarian Krisztofer Meszaros, Australia’s Jesse Moore, the Netherland’s Casimir Schmidt and Frank Rijken, Kazakh Milad Karimi, Brazil’s Diogo Soares, Canada’s Felix Dolci and Rene Cournoyer, and Germany’s Nils Dunkel.
Zhang had a qualifying score of 88.597 as against Yulo’s 83.631. Oka scored 86.865, Hashimoto 85.064, Xiao 84.898 and Jarman 84.897.
In boxing, Tokyo Games silver medalist Carlo Paalam and rookie Hergie Bacyadan will launch their bids at North Paris Arena on Wednesday, inspired by the opening-round win of Aira Villegas on Sunday.
Cagayan de Oro native Paalam will collide with young but aggressive Jude Gallagher of Ireland in the men’s 57kg class.
Paalam was silver medalist in the lighter flyweight division (52kg) during the Covid-delayed 2020 Tok
yo Games.
Bacyadan, who hails from Tabuk, Kalinga, will face the biggest challenge of her career as she is pitted against top seed in Chinese Li Qian in the round of 16 of the women’s 75kg class.
At 5-foot-10, the Chinese enjoys tremendous advantage over the 5-foot-6 Bacyadan that bodes well for her desire to complete her unfinished business in the Olympics.
Li was bronze medalist in 2016 Rio de Janeiro and a silver finisher in Tokyo.
Boxing has been a great source of pride for the Philippines, accounting for eight of the country’s 15 Olympic medals since it first competed 100 years ago, also in the captivating French capital.
Source: Philippines News Agency
