HANGZHOU Asian Games-bound gymnast Juancho Miguel Besana will be doing overtime duty for flag and country after being informed that he has qualified for the vault and horizonal bar events of the 42nd FIG Artistic Gymnastics World Championships in Antwerp, Belgium in late September.
In two separate letters, International Gymnastics Federation sports events manager Stephane Detraz addressed to Gymnastics Association of the Philippines president Cynthia Carrion, Besana was notified that he had qualified for both events after the quota places meant for other national federations were declined, opening up spots for him in the apparatuses.
The Detraz memo stressed that “apparatus specialists can complete only on the apparatus they qualified for,” meaning that Besana will compete only in the two events where he was given a “MAG special quota place” each.
“This another milestone for GAP and Philippine gymnastics since we now have another male gymnast beside Carlos Edriel Yulo who will be competing in the World Championships. We are proud that Juancho Miguel will also be there,” noted Carrion.
“Of course, masaya pero medyo kinabahan po dahil World Championships po ‘yun. Pero mapaghahahandaan naman po,” said Besana, who won the men’s vault gold in the Cambodia Southeast Asian Games last May.
He will join Yulo and women’s artistic gymnasts Alea Finnegan and Kylee Kvamme, who also qualified for the world meet scheduled from Sept. 30 to Oct. 8 in the city where the competition made its debut in 1903.
While the development was a huge boost and honor to his athletic career, Besana, 19, said it would also pose a logistical challenge in seeing action in the two meets in succession.
The Hangzhou Asiad gymnastics meet winds up on Sept. 29, and this means he and national coach Reyland Capellan would have to fly to Antwerp on the same day since compulsory qualifiers begin on Sept. 30.
“There was some confusion because the competitions are close to each other especially if I am going to also compete in the all-around in Hangzhou or focus on just the individual apparatuses,” Besana said.
He has been forced to carry the cudgels for the country in the Asiad with Yulo focusing on the worlds, a major qualifying competition for the Paris Olympic Games in 2024.
A veteran of the 2015 World Championships in Glasgow, Scotland, Capellan said he is not worried about the recovery time for Besana after his Asian Games stint “because a day’s rest is enough to recover. I am more concerned that we be on time for the podium training and the qualifying competition.”
Besana, whose father is a pastor, believed that things would be sorted out “because I believe that this is God’s will for me.”
