Carlos Yulo finds himself in the company of the event’s top contenders when he attempts to bag the all-around gold medal in the 51st FIG Artistic Gymnastics World Championships Friday night (early Saturday in Manila) in Liverpool, England.
Coming in third after the qualifying session a few days ago, the Filipino pride will have to contend with defending champion Zhang Boheng of China and Daiki Hashimoto of Japan and Illia Kovtun of Ukraine, who wound up second and third, respectively, behind Zhang.
Yulo seems in the zone in the run-up to the podium performances at the M&S Bank Arena, amused that his popularity has soared.
“I’m happy that I’m getting noticed internationally,” the 22-year-old Manila-bred Yulo said.
“I’m getting more known and I’m happy that whenever they say Carlos Yulo, the Philippines is also included,” Yulo added.
His name recall began gaining inroads after his showing in the 2019 worlds in Stuttgart, Germany, where he won gold on the floor and snatched another gold in vault last year in Kitakyushu, Japan.
Apart from the all-around, floor and vault, Yulo also made the grade for a shot at the gold in the parallel bars.
These three events will be held on Sunday and Monday.
But the Chinese all-around titleholder is not about to hand the crown to his rivals on a silver platter.
“We did so much better compared to the qualification. After one day of refreshing our minds and reflecting after the qualifiers, we got great momentum and rhythm today,” Zhang said in a story posted in the tournament’s website.
Yulo has found an avid supporter in Japanese ambassador to the Philippines Koshikawa Kazuhiko, who extended his 100 percent support behind’s Yulo’s quest.
“Wish Caloy-san the best of luck as he competes in all-around, floor, vault and parallel bars finals on 4 to 6 November. Ganbatte kudasai!,” the Japanese diplomat wrote.
