With Carlos Yulo out, Miguel Besana will carry the torch as he seeks to land on the medal podium of the 19th Asian Games that formally opens this Saturday at the Hangzhou Olympic Sports Center.
Gymnastics Association of the Philippines secretary general Rowena Bautista told Daily Tribune that Besana is still recovering from a foot injury so he decided to withdraw from the 52nd FIG Artistic Gymnastics World Championships in Antwerp set on 30 September.
Yulo will be seeing action in the world event in a bid to earn qualifying points for the Paris Olympics next year. Joining Yulo are Filipino-American debutants Aleah Finnegan and Kylee Kvamme after earning a quota place in vault.
“Besana is coming off a foot injury and he will only do the men’s vault in the Asian Games. He was supposed to play in the World Championships but we don’t want his body to get battered,” Bautista, the trusted deputy of gymnastics chief Cynthia Carrion, said.
Bautista added that Besana was initially scheduled to follow Yulo, Finnegan and Kvamme in Antwerp after the gymnastics competition of the Asian Games from 24 to 29 September.
“He was supposed to fly to Belgium after the Asian Games but it will be too much for his body so he won’t go there anymore,” Bautista said.
Aside from Besana, Ace de Leon will represent the country in the men’s artistic event after another Southeast Asian Games gold medalist — John Ivan Cruz — pulled out due to injury.
In the Asian Games, Besana will be facing defending vault champion Shek Wai Hung of Hong Kong, 2018 Asian Games silver medalist Kim Han-sol of South Korea and bronze medalist Agus Adi Prayoko of Indonesia.
