TOKYO - Philippine officials were quick to ease concerns over reports of top medal hope Caloy Yulo hurting his hip in training as his preliminary events in gymnastics near at the Tokyo Olympics.
Gymnastics Association of the Philippines (GAP) president Cynthia Carrion said Yulo landed awkwardly as he finished a routine in his pet floor exercise event in training, suffering a bruised hip.
Carrion, however, said the incident happened two weeks ago and not on Wednesday as previously reported.
Philippine Olympic Committee (POC) president Bambol Tolentino confirmed the misstep suffered in training, but assured Yulo will be good to go when he competes in the qualifiers in gymnastics on Saturday (July 24).
"He's okay na," Tolentino said.
Carrion said Yulo, 21, was still able to train on Thursday at the Ariake Gymnastics Centre despite the pain, but added the incident has prompted a rethink of his floor exercise routine. The qualifiers will be held on Saturday.
The reigning world champion in the floor exercise event will likely abandon his signature move - a risky triple back and double forward routine that, if he can pull it off, can put a lock on the gold medal, Carrion claimed,
"[Yulo's] coach said that if we can't do it perfectly, we might not do it anymore because we'll be disqualified," said Carrion.
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