Philippines’ Yulo clinches gold in floor exercise

The 2019 world champion Carlos Yulo of the Philippines won gold in the men’s floor exercise at the 9th Senior Asian Artistic Gymnastics Championships at the Aspire Dome yesterday.
The 22-year-old collected 14.933 points to overcame the challenges from his Chinese, Japanese and Korean competitors. South Korea’s Kim Hansol and China’s Jiaxing Yang finished second and third respectively.   
The feat earned Yulo a spot, his second after his silver medal-finish in All-Around finals on Thursday, in FIG Artistic World Championships in Liverpool from October 29 to November 6. Yulo’s was confidence personified on the floor and his performance was an exemplary one given the presence of gymnasts from traditional heavyweights like China, Japan and South Korea.   
The Filipino finished fourth in rings to qualify for the worlds in this apparatus. On Thursday, 21-one-year-old Cong Shi took the men’s All-Around gold to contribute to China’s domination in the Asian meet with 83.33 points, ahead of Yulo, a two-time world champion, who came second with 83.867 points.
Defending champions China swept men’s and women’s Team and All-Around titles on Thursday. Uzbekistan’s record eight-time Olympian Oksana Chusovitina was under the spotlight and glare in the women’s vault final. But the 46-year-old finished fifth in the apparatus which was won by South Korea’s Seojong Yeo (14.084) while Japan’s Shoko Miyata took silver (13.884) and India’s Pranati Nayak finished third (13.367).
Jordan’s Ahmed Abu Al Soud shocked some of continent’s well-known pommel horse exponents including Iran’s Saeedreza Keikha to claim the title. The 26-year-old was ahead of his rivals particularly included Keikha, who became the first Iranian gymnast to have a skill named for him in the Code of Points in 2018.
Al Soud collected 15.233 points followed by Kazakhstan’s Nariman Kurbanov (14.800) and China’s Dehang Yin (14.600). All the podium-finishers together with fourth and fifth-placers will qualify for the world meet as well.