Gymnastics federation chief Cynthia Carrion will serve as Yulo's manager in the world championships.
Avid watchers of Philippine gymnastics will be locked in for two weeks with two big events happening consecutively, with medals and Olympic qualifications on the line.
The artistic gymnastics events at the Asian Games in China will take place from September 24 to 29, while the world championships will happen from September 30 to October 8 in Belgium.
Top Philippine gymnast Carlos Yulo had announced before that he will not compete in the Asian Games since he is set to focus on the World Artistic Gymnastics Championship, where he earned gold medals in floor exercise and vault in 2019 and 2021, respectively. This year, the Philippine gymnastics golden boy will be aiming for a medal in the all-around event.
Joining Yulo in Belgium are Aleah Finnegan and Kylee Ann Kvamme, who will compete in the women's all-around in the world stage.
Finnegan is a team gold medalist in the 2019 Pan American Games and the 2021 Southeast Asian Games, and the vault gold medalist in Vietnam. She also picked up the silver in the all-around and balance beam events of the 2021 SEA Games, another silver in floor exercise of the 2023 NCAA Championships, and a couple of bronze medals in vault and balance beam of the 2023 Asian Championships.
The eight highest-ranked eligible men's all-around athletes and the 14 highest-ranked women's all-around athletes in the World Championships will obtain a quota place by name in the 2024 Paris Olympics, with a maximum of one quota place per nation.
With Yulo, Finnegan. and Kvamme focused on Belgium, building the China delegation for the Asian Games did not come easy.
Gymnastics Association of the Philippines president Cynthia Carrion explained that injuries struck some of the members. Filipino-American Levi Jung-Ruivivar, who recently switched to the Philippines, could have taken a spot but Carrion said authorities didn't agree to the replacement. Jung-Ruivivar was not part of the initial list submitted to Asiad organizers, which is why an appeal—that was eventually denied—had to be made.
"In spite of the pleadings, they still don't want to accept her," Carrion told The Game.
On the men's side, SEA Games floor exercise gold medalist Ivan Cruz, Yulo's cousin, also succumbed to injury, said Carrion.
This leaves the likes of 2023 SEA Games vault gold medalist Juancho Miguel Besana, team all-around silver medalist Justine Ace de Leon, and Breanna Labadan—the first Filipina rhythmic gymnast to compete in the world stage—to represent the flag in the China Asiad.
"We're hoping they will be able to get gold medals," said Carrion, who will also not make the trip to Hangzhou,
The gymnastics federation exec will have her hands full in the worlds as Yulo will enter the tournament without his usual coach.
"I will have to go with Carlos Yulo for the worlds. Coach Mune [Kugimiya Munehiro] is not the coach of Carlos Yulo anymore. The Japanese coach is not his coach anymore," Carrion said.
"He needs me very badly to be with him because I'll be his manager, his everything."
Coach Mune, however, is still very close to Philippine gymnastics, expressing his support for Yulo's younger brother Karl.
The Filipino gymnastics will bank on getting the support of the Filipino people as they head to two important tourneys in the next few weeks.
(GM)