Eldrew Yulo suffered an unfortunate foot injury in his all-around final that could affect his performance in his remaining apparatus finals at the 3rd FIG Artistic Gymnastics Junior World Championship.
Eldrew Yulo revealed that he will be taking it down a notch in terms of difficulty, when he competes in the final of the floor exercise here at the 3rd FIG Artistic Gymnastics Junior World Championships after suffering a minor injury on Saturday night.
Yulo, who finished eighth in the all-around final, is competing in three more medal bids — floor exercise, high bar, and vault — on Sunday and Monday to keep the Philippines’ medal bid alive after his teammates ended their campaigns in the qualification.
During the vault in the all-around final, Yulo missed his dismount which caused a deep landing.
[READ: Eldrew Yulo happy with Top 8 all-around finish in Gymnastics Junior World Championships]
Yulo said that the landing caused some pain in his right ankle. He walked with a slight limp after the floor exercise, shifting his weight off his right foot.
Because of this, he and his team decided on Saturday night that he will be performing a less complicated routine.
“Sobrang taas na po ng confidence ko kasi magbababa po ako ng isang element ng .100 kasi I hurt myself po during my vault earlier, so bababa lang po ako ng .100 so there’s not much difference,” Yulo said, who was able to walk on his own after icing his foot after the competition.
“Maglilinis nalang po ako ng routine para ma-achieve po 'yung silver, or gold, or bronze, or kahit ano pa man 'yan.”
Yulo showed tremendous promise in the floor exercise in the all-around final, finishing with the second best score among all competitors with a 14.300. It was good enough for second.
He completed a routine which had a difficulty score of 5.300.In comparison, all-around gold medalist Arsenii Dukhno of Russia, who also finished first in floor during the qualification, tallied a difficulty score of 5.900.
Safety precaution
But Yulo reiterated that it was just him and his team choosing to err on the side of caution as they try to maintain Yulo’s health and not risk any undue harm.
“For safety nalang po ako ngayon,” he said.
Despite still feeling a little pain, Yulo said that he wants to be able to show the Filipino’s fighting spirit and push through with the competition. He is still aiming for a podium finish before he wraps up his campaign at the Worlds.
“Medyo nakirot parin po pero Pilipino po tayo, kailangan natin lumaban di pa tapos yung laban so ipilit po natin kung ano yung makakaya natin. Safe lang po tayo.” he said.
“Kayang kaya [ko] naman.”
Yulo competes on Sunday, November 23, starting at 2pm with the floor exercise final. He faces off against all-around podium finishers Arsenii Dukhno, and Lanbin Yang.
He still has the vault and high bar finals on Monday to wrap up his campaign and the competition here in Newport.
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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.