CALOY Yulo bagged the country's first gold medal in men's artistic gymnastics of the 30th Southeast Asian Games by winning the individuall all-around on Sunday before a good-sized crowd at the Rizal Memorial Coliseum.
Yulo, who won a gold at the world championship early in the year to seal a place in the 2020 Olympics in Japan, scored 84.900 in the six routines to easily beat Vietnam's Dinh Phuong Thanh (82.350) for first place.
Another Vietnamese, Le Thanh Tung, claimed the bronze with a score of 81.700.
Fans came in droves, most of them lining up as early as 10 a.m. to watch the newest Filipino sports hero at home. They didn’t go home disappointed.
Yulo overwhelmed the opposition in the floor exercise, the same routine that led to a world title during the Artistic Gymnastics World Championship a few months ago, scoring 14.650, with Dinh being the closest at 13.900.
The 19-year-old Yulo placed third in the pommel horse with 13.600, and second in the still rings with a score of 13.600. He scored 14.550 for second place in the vault, and got second in the parallel bars with 14.400.
By finishing within the top two of each of the routines, Yulo has also qualified in the finals of all six apparatus, making him in contention for a sweep of the seven gold medals at stake in men’s artistic gymnastics.
Artistic gymnastics resume on Monday with the women’s division.
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