By Jean Malanum
MANILA – Carlos Edriel Yulo topped the men’s artistic gymnastics vault event Friday to secure his second gold medal in the 20th Asian Games in Japan.
He scored 14.599 points to beat Iran’s Mahdi Olfati (14.533) and Hong Kong’s Ka Ki Ng (14.116) at the Nagoya City General Gymnasium.
South Korea’s Joeho Kim was fourth with 14.016 points, followed by Filipino Juancho Miguel Besana (13.783).
“I’m feeling good. Happy to be able to land both vaults. And despite the pain, I walked away with no major injuries. Thankful to the Lord that I was able to perform. Landing fifth in the finals is a good achievement for me,” said Besana.
“It’s a very tough competition having Olympians and future Olympians as well. The scores were for world class, Olympic class. And being able to go up against those gymnasts is a good challenge for me,” he added.
“It’s a wonderful thing that the Philippines got its two golds from gymnastics. So, hoping that the other sports will be able to rally behind us and bring more golds for the Philippines. It was great being able to compete against him and with him,” said Besana on Yulo’s win.
Aside from Yulo’s two golds, the Philippines has one silver and four bronzes for 13th place in the medal standings.
As of 4 p.m. (PH time), China leads with 86 golds, 32 silvers and 20 bronzes followed by Japan (22-36-40), South Korea (12-14-29), Kazakhstan (8-8-11), Uzbekistan (6-15-8), Iran (6-11-6), Thailand (6-6-8), Hong Kong, China (4-10-10), DPR Korea (4-3-3), Malaysia (4-1-5), Bahrain (3-2-0) and India (2-8-9). (PNA)
