AFTER being out of the country for over a year, world gymnastics champion Carlos Edriel Yulo arrived in Manila last Tuesday to try out the MVP Sports Foundation Gymnastics Center in Intramuros, Manila that will be formally inaugurated on Saturday.
Angelica Yulo, the gymnast’s mom, posted pictures with his son the other day on her Facebook account shortly after his arrival with Japanese coach Munehiro Kugimiya and therapist Junpei Konno, who have been with the athlete for more than a decade in his rise on the world gymnastics stage.
Yulo scored a breakthrough victory for the country by clinching the gold medal in the men’s floor exercise event in the 39th FIG Artistic Gymnastics in Stuttgart, Germany in 2019, and followed it up with a gold in the men’s vault and a silver in the parallel bars in the 40th edition in Kitakyushu, Japan last November.
It was a superb comeback for the diminutive dynamo after a lackluster outing in the Tokyo Olympic Games last year when he failed to qualify for the finals of his fancied event while narrowly missing a podium finish in the men’s vault.
In 2019, Yulo, who grew up in Leveriza, Manila behind the Rizal Memorial Sports Complex, emerged as the country’s top performer in the 30th Southeast Asian Games with two gold and five silver medals.
Gymnastics Association of the Philippines Deputy Secretary General Rowena Villasis said Yulo is scheduled to practice at the newly-built facility near the Pamantasan ng Lungsod ng Maynila funded by the MVP Sports Foundation and the Philippine Sports Commission that will serve as the new home of the national gymnastics athletes.
“Caloy has been homesick so this is the right time for him to be with his family after being away from the country for so long,” Villasis said.
In his first bonding time with his family and friends, the outstanding gymnast ate his favorite fried chicken at a popular restaurant in Malate, just a short ride away from their home in Leveriza.
