THE contrasting emotions of joy and sadness hit Filipino sports fans Thursday.
Gymnast Carlos Yulo provided unbridled delight. He first made sports officials stop breathing during qualification for the vault when he landed on his bottom at dismount, but then sent them hyperventilating when the double Olympic winner handed the country its first gold medal in the ongoing Asian Games by topping the floor exercise.
This exhilaration was tempered by the unexpected loss of top tennis player Alex Eala later in the day, not in the Asian Games, but at the Singapore Open, where she was seeded third.
READ Carlos Yulo vaults to his second Asian Games gold medal
Eala was ousted in the second round, her first match after getting a bye, by Tatiana Prozorova of Russia, ranked 180th in the world but who played like she was rated higher than the Filipino star ranked 18th in the world.
Eala was probably thinking of using the Singapore Open as preparation for the Asian Games although, assessing the two events, both are important. The Singapore Open is a WTA 500 tournament, and the Asian Games, while it doesn’t offer cash prizes, gives millions in state incentives for a player bagging the gold.
Prozorova outplayed Eala in the decisive third set where, after a 3-3 tie, the Russian fought fiercely to hold her serve after staving off four break points, and from there, seized the momentum, handing the Filipino her first defeat in a one-year period against a player ranked outside the top 100, at 6-4, 5-7, 3-6.
Fairly sad for Pinoy fans, but also for organizers not likely to see a stadium as filled up and as loud as when Eala is in action. Singapore is, moreover, destination for thousands of Filipinos engaged in various expat work.
While it was a day to forget for Eala, whose attention now shifts to the Asian Games tournament, it was a day of redemption for the 26-year-old Yulo, who won two gold medals in the Paris Olympics in 2024.
Rekindling his Paris moment, Yulo made amends for that day in 2018 when he qualified first in the floor exercise at the Asian Games in Jakarta but finished a dismal seventh among eight finalists, his rookie nerves being cited as the culprit.
This time, Yulo was the preeminent bet, the most feared, and top favorite. Wrapped in years of world-class competition, many of which he won, our gymnast plucked the gold despite what he himself called a not-so-perfect routine.
He said he nearly fumbled in one phase, which could have been disastrous given the closeness of the competition. But he deftly avoided the miscue and beat his rivals, second placer Milad Karimi of Kazakhstan, by 0.066 points, and third placer Shoma Tsukiyama of Japan, by 0.1.
One can imagine the sigh of relief from sports officials led by Philippine Olympic Committee president Bambol Tolentino who must have trembled when Yulo nearly failed to qualify for the vault finals.
Yulo was, after all, the fair-haired boy of the Philippine contingent that banked on his supple and sturdy arms, legs, and torso which could give the country as many three gold medals.
He won a second gold in the vault—yes, the vault, where he narrowly qualified for the final after his fall during qualification last Monday - and will be going for a hat-trick of victories in the parallel bars later in the day.
Friday will be a significant day in the country’s campaign in the Asiad. In Yulo’s hands, and, yes, feet and all other parts of his body, may lie partly the success or failure of the country’s trip to Japan.
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