CARLOS Yulo provided the much-needed boost to the Philippines’ campaign at the 20th Asian Games after bagging the delegation's first gold medal in men’s artistic gymnastics on Thursday.
The two-time Olympic champion ruled the floor exercise with a near-perfect routine to get the Philippines to the gold-medal column and move it up to 20th in the medal tally with a 1-1-4 gold-silver-bronze haul after Day 5 of the competitions.
READ Yulo waited eight long years for Asian Games redemption
Yulo’s conquest, hopefully, could be the first of more as the star gymnast will be back in action in two more apparatus final on Thursday, with the vault set at 3 p.m. (2 p.m. Manila time) and parallel bars at 4:50 p.m. (3:50 p.m. Manila time).
The Gilas 3x3 teams could also be fighting for gold medals on Friday.
The men’s squad of Nic Cabanero, Luis Pablo, Doy Dungo, and Koji Buenaflor had a hard-earned 21-19 win over last Asiad champion Chinese Taipei to arrange a semifinal duel with Korea.
Kacey Dela Rosa, Kennan Ka, Amyah Espanol, and Mavi Pasilang overcame Singapore, 22-12, and will face Thailand in the semifinals.
The final four will be held on Friday afternoon, with the finals to be held thereafter.
China has now amassed 80 gold medals after Thursday's events as the runaway leader in the medal table, followed by host Japan with 20 and South Korea with 10.
The best Southeast Asian, thus far, is Thailand, at No. 7 with five gold medals.
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