BATANG Pinoy National Games gymnastics standout Karl Eldrew Yulo, tracing the footsteps of famous sibling Carlos Edriel Yulo, is now in Tokyo, Japan undergoing a two-week training stint under the supervision of famed Japanese Munehiro Kugimiya.
“Karl is in Tokyo and being trained by coach Mune (Kugimiya’s nickname) for two weeks as part of the transitioning process into the national men’s senior artistic gymnastics team,” said gymnastics deputy secretary general Rowena Eusuya.
Yulo, 16, emerged as the outstanding gymnast of the Batang Pinoy National Games last December, sweeping all of his seven events — the individual all-around, floor exercise, parallel bars, vault, horizontal bar, pommel horse and rings — to emerge as the most bemedalled athlete of the meet.
“We all know how Caloy (Yulo’s nickname) vastly improved after training in Japan with coach Mune so this is the path that Ma’am Cynthia (Carrion, Gymnastics Association of the Philippines president), wants his younger brother to follow. This is just the beginning,” Eusuya said.
She added the promising athlete is in Tokyo together with Cambodia Southeast Asian Games men’s floor exercise champion John Ivan Cruz, who will be competing in three legs of the FIG World Cup series kicking off with the second leg from Feb. 22 to 25 in Cottbus, Germany.
Together with two-time world champion Yulo and Juancho Miguel Besana, Cruz is also expected to compete in the third leg of the World Cup from March 7 to 10 in Baku, Azerbaijan and the last stop slated April 17-20 in Doha, Qatar.
The GAP official said that the young gymnast’s training in the Japanese capital was also laying the groundwork for his build-up for two international competitions in the coming months where he will be accompanied by national coach Reyland Capellan.
“Accompanied by coach Reyland, we hope to field Karl Eldrew in the Pacific Rim Championships from April 26 to 28 in Cali, Colombia and the Asian junior artistic championships in Tashkent, Uzbekistan in May,” she said.
