Yulo bags silver, earns berth in world tourney

TOKYO Olympian Carlos Yulo captured his first medal in the 2023 Asian Gymnastics Championships in Singapore on Thursday. The 23-year old Yulo settled for a silver medal in the men’s individual all-around event, with a score of 85.930, behind champion, Japan’s Shinnosuke Oka, who tallied 86.065.

Another Japanese bet in Takeru Kitazono took third with 85.431.

The performance was good enough, though, for Yulo to earn a spot in the World Championships in Antwerp, Belgium this September. Yulo also took the lead in the qualifiers for floor with 14.966 points, vault with 14.833, and parallel bars with 15.066, and placed second in the rings (14.3), to earn a spot in the apparatus finals on Saturday.

Yulo and teammates Juancho Besana, Justine de Leon and Justine Timbang tallied 237.193 points for seventh place in the team all-around.

He will also compete in the horizontal bar finals, despite originally placing ninth as only two representatives per federation are allowed to qualify.

China had three gymnasts finishing in the top eight, allowing Yulo to be the next best athlete to qualify.

Meanwhile, all eyes are on 20-yearold Fil-American Emma Malabuyo, who will debut for Team PH in the women’s division.

Race for 2nd PGT win heats up at F. Hills

ALL but one of the six winners of this year’s Philippine Golf Tour go flat out in quest of a second championship on an unfamiliar terrain in the ICTSI Forest Hills Classic, which unwraps Tuesday at the Nicklaus course in Antipolo.

For one, Ira Alido, who came out of nowhere to stun Tony Lascuña by one and set off the chase for the Order of Merit honors in Bacolod last March, expects to figure conspicuously in the upcoming P2 million event despite a wobbly finish the last time out.

The former amateur hotshot, who secured his maiden PGT win in big fashion at Riviera in 2020, set the PGT Valley pace two weeks ago, stayed in the hunt in the middle rounds but faltered when it mattered most, closing out with a 76 and winding up joint sixth.

“I wouldn’t call it a loss of rhythm but more of a learning experience and that only makes me want to play even better (in the next event),” said Alido. “Like I said the last time, I’m exactly where I want to be right now and I whole-heartedly believe I can compete to win week-in and week-out.”

Just like everybody else, including Valley leg champion Reymon Jaraula, Villamor Philippine

Masters titlist Jhonnel Ababa, Iloilo leg runaway winner Rupert Zaragosa and Lascuña, who reigned at Caliraya Springs.

Throw in Lloyd Go and Clyde Mondilla, who tied for second at Valley, and former leg winners Angelo Que, Zanieboy Gialon, Jay Bayron and Guido van der Valk, also the reigning back-to-back The Country Club Invitational champion, a mad, wild chase for the top P360,000 prize could be in the works in the 72-hole championship organized by Pilipinas Golf Tournaments, Inc.

Title-hungry Marvin Dumandan, Gerald Rosales, Keanu Jahns, Albin Engino, Enrico Gallardo and Fidel Concepcion are also keen on muddling up the title race, along with young guns Gabriel Manotoc, Sean Ramos, Josh Jorge, Kristoffer Arevalo, Ivan Monsalve, Japanese Ueda Atsushi and Korean Hyun Ho Rho while Russell Bautista and Elee Bautista are also due to producing solid results on a hilly 36-hole championship course that favors no one.

The par-72 Forest Hills-Nicklaus has not hosted a PGT event since 2017 with the management renovating some key holes to make it more challenging, a risk-and-reward course even for the country’s touring pros.

Malabuyo was a promising young gymnast for Team USA, placing second in the all-around as a junior at the 2017 U.S. Championships.

She joined the Team Philippines after injuries affected her senior career with Team USA.

After missing out on the 2018 and 2019 U.S. Championships, Malabuyo bounced back with a great performance at the 2021 U.S. Championships, where she finished fourth in the all-around.

Then, Malabuyo spent 2022 and 2023 with good performances, while with the University of California-Los Angeles women’s gymnastics team, coming up with a fourth-place finish on the balance beam at the US National Collegiate Athletic Association early this year.

Now, the Big Dome in Quezon City will yet again welcome global basketball with arms wide open, this time alongside Pasay’s SM Mall of Asia Arena and, for the opening day, Bulacan’s Philippine Arena, which is expected to be at full capacity to witness top-10 ranked Italy versus scrappy Angola in the opener, followed by the home team Gilas Pilipinas battling the Dominican Republic.

Tip-offs are slated at 4 p.m. and 8 p.m., respectively, on August 25, as a projected record-breaking number of fans is expected to cheer on the Philippine national team in its quest to claim its first world win on home soil in the nightcap.

The highly-anticipated opening day matchups will be surrounded by other attractions as celebrities will be in attendance and tournament organizers are preparing a show comprised of top local musical acts, booths set up by both local and global event partners, and other gimmicks that will give fans a truly world-class experience aside from a chance to be part of FIBA World Cup record-breaking attendance history.

Ticket holders for the opening day games at the Philippine Arena can avail of free shuttle services from major transportation hubs, as there will be 400 buses deployed for this purpose.