SPORTS fans can be reassured that two-time world gymnastics champion Carlos Edriel Yulo, who has been studying and training in Tokyo for the past five years, has no plans of acquiring Japanese citizenship, according to gymnastics chief Cynthia Carrion.
“No, Caloy loves our country and he will be staying with us forever,” said Carrion, who recently returned from the 83rd International Gymnastics Federation Congress from Antalya, Turkey where she was voted as one of the members of the FIG Executive Council.
After a dismal outing in the Tokyo Olympic Games, the diminutive yet dynamic Yulo achieved a redemption of sorts by clinching the vault gold medal and silver in the parallel bars of the 50th FIG Artistic World Championships last month in Kitakyushu, Japan.
He, however, failed to defend the floor exercise title he won in the 2019 edition in Stuttgart, Germany.
With the help of the Philippine Sports Commission, Yulo has been training in Tokyo since 2016 under coach Munehiro Kugimiya and studying at the Teikyo University
The quiet and soft-spoken gymnast, who speaks fluent Nihongo and looks up to former Japanese Olympic and world all-around champion Kohei Uchimura as his role model, has been embraced by Japanese fans as one of their own.
This has raised some concerns in some quarters that Yulo could follow in the footsteps of outstanding Filipino-Japanese golfer Yuka Saso, 20, the reigning US Women’s Open champion and Tokyo Olympic veteran, who has declared she will opt for Japanese citizenship before turning 22.
Carrion, the Gymnastics Association of the Philippines president and Philippine Olympic Committee treasurer, said those thoughts have not entered the mind of Yulo, who has been a GAP protégé for over a decade.
“If anything, it is coach Mune (Kugimiya’s nickname) who wants to become a Filipino citizen,” Carrion said of the Japanese mentor, who has called the shots for the national men’s artistic gymnastics squad since 2015.
She added that Yulo would be back before Christmas after competing in the 75th All-Japan Gymnastics Group Championships on Dec. 11 to 12 at the Yoyogi National Stadium in the city of Shibuya, 10.3 kilometers southwest of Tokyo.
Carrion said Yulo will be home in time for the inauguration of the GAP’s new national training center in Intramuros, Manila that will be graced by newly reelected FIG President Morinari Watanabe of Japan.
“FIG President Watanabe has confirmed that he will be one of our honored guests at the opening of the new GAP national training center,” Carrion said of the new facility funded by the MVP Sports Foundation and whose lease will be paid for by the Philippine Sports Commission.
