Nanguna si Carlos Edriel Yulo sa men’s artistic gymnastics vault event n upang makuha ang kanyang ikalawang gintong medalya sa 20th Asian Games sa Japan nitong Biyernes.
Nakapagtala siya ng 14.599 puntos upang talunin sina Mahdi Olfati ng Iran (14.533) at Ka Ki Ng ng Hong Kong (14.116) sa Nagoya City General Gymnasium.
“GOD did it again. Thank You Lord for making all things possible! All glory to You. I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me,” ayon sa post ni Yulo sa Facebook.
Pang-apat si Joeho Kim ng South Korea na may 14.016 puntos, habang sinundan siya ng Pilipinong si Juancho Miguel Besana (13.783).
“I’m feeling good. Happy to be able to land both vaults. And despite the pain, I walked away with no major injuries. Thankful to the Lord that I was able to perform. Landing fifth in the finals is a good achievement for me,” ani Besana. “It’s a very tough competition having Olympians and future Olympians as well. The scores were for world class, Olympic class. And being able to go up against those gymnasts is a good challenge for me.”
Nakamit naman ng nakababatang kapatid ni Carlos Yulo na si Karl Eldrew ang bronze medal — ikalima ng Pilipinas sa kabuuan — sa horizontal bar event matapos magtala ng 13.666 (5.0 difficulty, 8.566 in execution, 0.1 bonus point).
Nagwagi si Hao Tian ng China (14.700), habang nakuntento sa silver medal si Shinnosuke Oka ng Japan (14.033).
Bukod sa dalawang gintong medalya ni Yulo, mayroon na rin dalawang silver medal ang Pilipinas. Ang ikalawa ay mula sa Gilas women’s 3×3 team, na natalo sa Japan, 11-21.
Naging puwersa si Kacey Dela Rosa sa loob ng court habang buong tapang na nakipaglaban ang Gilas women sa harap ng mga Hapon sa Kinjo Futo Station Square Venue.
May anim na puntos, tatlong block at tatlong rebound si Dela Rosa, habang nagdagdag sina Amyah Espanol at KA Kennan ng tig-tatlo at dalawang puntos.
“Honestly, I feel bad because I couldn’t lead them to the gold. They really deserved to win that. Sa lahat ng sakripisyo, lahat ng (Thank you for sacrifice, all) hard work, I really believe they deserve it,’’ ani Gilas women coach Anton Altamirano.
“But we’re still happy to bring a medal home for the country. I believe we gave our best in the tournament. We just really fell short in this gold-medal match.”
Hindi na ikinagulat ang dominasyon ng Japan sa mga nakasaksi sa kanilang paggapi sa Korea sa semifinals, 19-8.
Nakapasok ang Gilas sa finals matapos talunin ang Thailand, 13-8, sa kabilang semifinal match.
Nabigo namang makapasok sa podium ang PH men’s 3×3 squad matapos manaig ang South Korea sa kanilang bronze-medal match, 21-9.
Sa kabuuan, mayroon nang dalawang gold medal ang Pilipinas (parehong mula kay Carlos Yulo), dalawang silver (Jean Claude Saclag ng mixed martial arts at women’s 3×3 basketball) at limang bronze medal (Karl Yulo, women’s soft tennis team, Carlos Alvarez ng mixed martial arts, at Marie June Adriano at women’s kata team ng karate).
Sa talaan inilabas ng 9:45 p.m., patuloy na nangunguna ang China na may 98-37-24 gold-silver-bronze, na sinundan ng Japan (28-43-44), South Korea (13-17-24), Kazakhstan (8-8-14), Uzbekistan (7-15-9) at ang nangungunang Southeast Asian team na Thailand (7-6-8).