CARLOS “CALOY” YULO flew to Germany on Sunday to vie in the first of four legs of the International Gymnastics Federation Apparatus World Cup—a series of qualifiers for the world championships set later this year.
With Yulo in the four-day leg that starts Thursday are Juancho Miguel Besana and Reyland Capellan, who, according to Gymnastics Association of the Philippines (GAP) President Cynthia Carrion-Norton, are bound to gain experience for their Hangzhou Asian Games campaign in September.
“Caloy needs these World Cup series for him to return to the world championships,” Carrion-Norton told BusinessMirror on Sunday. “They’re the only tickets to the worlds.”
After the first leg in Cottbus, Yulo will compete in the second leg in Doha from March 1 to 4, third leg in Baku, Azerbaijan, from March 9 to 12 and the fourth leg in Cairo from April 27 to 30.
The world championships are set September 30 to October 8 in Antwerp and because they are a qualifier for the Paris 2024 Olympics, Yulo will choosing the tournament in Belgium over the Hangzhou Games scheduled September 23 to October 8.
Japanese coach Munehiro Kugiyama will fly to Cottbus from Tokyo to join Yulo—a former world champion in floor exercise and vault—in Cottbus.
Yulo, who took a two-week vacation in Manila, as well as Capellan and Besana, will compete in the parallel bars, floor exercise, rings, vault and all-events.