The three Filipina gymnasts who saw action for the host country were unable to qualify for the finals in the women’s all-around and apparatus.
Team Philippines were unable to qualify into the finals of the women’s all-around and apparatus after the three gymnasts who saw action in the qualification failed to make the cut in the 3rd FIG Artistic Gymnastics Junior World Championships at the Marriott Grand Ballroom here at Newport, Pasay on Friday night.
Elisabeth Antone, Maxine Bondoc, and Jellian Bantilan performed valiantly in front of their home crowd supporters but were unable to crack the Top 8 in any of the apparatus nor the Top 24 in the all-around for the women’s division.
Antone, who has medalled in the Junior Asian Championships, was the best performing Filipina with an overall score of 47.332 — good enough for 45th overall in the women’s all-around.
She wrapped up her performance with an 11.833 in floor exercise. She scored 12.600 in the vault, 11.366 in the uneven bars, and 11.533 in the beam.
“I felt like I had a really good floor routine after what happened on the other events.” said Antone.
“I’m really proud of my teammates, and our entire team. I felt like we really supported each other and had fun out there.”
Meanwhile, Bondoc, who had an injury scare during her warm-up for the uneven bars, finished with 41.299 to place 93rd among the women.
She powered through pain to complete her routine and finished with a respectable 8.933 in the uneven bars.
She scored 11.733 in the vault, 9.700 in the beam, and 10.933 in the floor exercise.
On vault, Bondoc and Bantilan attempted only one vault each.
Bantilan finished 107th overall with 11.700 in vault, 8.766 in uneven bars, 7.733 in beam, and 11.000 in floor exercise. She scored 39.199 overall.
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Team Philippines garnered a team score of 88.998 to finish 24th among 30 teams competing. France (108.432) dominated the competition for the top honors in the team event while Japan (107.930) came in second.
Team USA (106.230) wrapped up the podium with bronze.
The Philippines’ medal hopes thus rest on Eldrew Yulo’s shoulders as he competes in four finals beginning on Saturday, November 22.
Yulo competes first in the all-around final on Saturday. He also competes in the apparatus finals for the floor exercise, vault, and horizontal bars on Sunday and Monday.
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Luisa Morales is a sports writer with a special interest in promoting women’s sports.
Her coverage highlights include the UAAP, PVL, Southeast Asian Games, and the FIBA World Cup. She also follows Alex Eala, the Philippine women’s national football team, and mixed martial arts.