IT will be the turn of the national men’s artistic gymnastics team’s chance to shine as 32nd Cambodia Southeast Asian Games gold medalist John Ivan Cruz and Juancho Miguel lead the country’s campaign in the Pacific Rim Gymnastics Championship opening today (Saturday in South America) in Cali, Colombia.
Cruz and Besana ruled the men’s floor exercise and vault, respectively, in the Cambodia SEA Games and hope to anchor the squad that includes Jan Gwynn Timbang and Jhon Romeo Santillan in the team and all-around events.
The scores will be the basis for qualifiers in the apparatus finals of the prestigious meet set on Sunday.
Besides the Philippine men’s team, also competing in the four-day event are the national women’s artistic gymnastics members Ancilla Lucia Mari Manzano and Kursten Rogue Lopez.
Completing the national contingent led by Gymnastics Artistic of the Philippines deputy secretary general Rowena Eusuya are the siblings of former two-time world gymnastics champion Carlos Edriel Yulo, Karl Eldrew and Elaiza Andriel, who will see action in the junior competitions.
“While the focus is on our Olympic-bound gymnasts, GAP president Cynthia Carrion has not overlooked the fact we still have a lot of promising athletes in our national team who also need international exposure,” said Eusuya.
