Yulo to skip Asian Games for World Championships

CHAMPION gymnast Carlos Yulo will miss the Hangzhou Asian Games to join the Artistic Gymnastics World Championships in Antwerp, which is a qualifying tournament for next year’s Paris Olympics.

“(Yulo) is not joining the Asian Games as it is the same time as the Belgium World Championships,” Gymnastics Association of the Philippines president Cynthia Carrion Norton said.

The Hangzhou Games are set for Sept. 23-Oct. 8, which will be in direct conflict with the Antwerp meet, which runs between Sept. 30 and Oct. 10.

The Filipino champion from Leveriza, Manila has yet to win in the Asiad, one of the major trophies missing from the collection of the two-time World champion and 2022 Hanoi Southeast Asian Games quintuple gold medallist.

But the Olympics is the grander stage where he can resume the hunt for the gold that had eluded him in the 2021 Tokyo Games, where he faltered despite being a favorite in the floor exercise.

Ms. Carrion Norton, however, said Yulo will be competing in the Phnom Penh SEA Games between May 5 and 17, where his medal haul will be capped at two even if he sweeps all his seven events, due to restrictions on the medal count set by the hosts.

“He is joining. We’re doing it out of sportsmanship and for the sport that we love,” Ms. Carrion Norton said. — Joey Villar