THANKS to the wonders of modern medicine and therapy, gymnastics star Carlos Edriel Yulo is ready and raring to compete in his third straight Southeast Asian Games in Phnom Penh, Cambodia next week.
After suffering a severe left ankle strain that forced him to skip the last leg of the FIG World Cup series in Cairo, Egypt last month, Yulo underwent hyperbaric oxygen therapy at the Teikyo University Hospital, being a student-athlete of the institution, according to Gymnastics Association of the Philippines secretary general Weng Bautista.
Among the costly therapy’s targets is to hasten and improve blood circulation, reduce the inflammation of tissues while boosting the body’s immune system, Bautista said.
“Medyo 80 to 90 percent na siyang okay, kaya na mag-land sa ankle, so okay na po maglaro sa Cambodia SEA Games,” Yulo said last Tuesday night following the national men’s artistic gymnastics last day of training at the Gymnastics Association of the Philippines gym inside the Rizal Memorial Sports Complex.
Yulo and the five other of the members of the squad — Juan Miguel Besana, Jan Gwynn Tymbang, John Ivan Cruz, Justine Ace de Leon and rookie Jhon Romeo Santillan — left Thursday for the Cambodian capital, four days before the SEA Games gymnastics meet starts on May 8.
Japanese head coach Munehiro Kugimiya appreciated the effort that his athletes made during the weeklong training camp that began last April 25 and averaged seven to eight hours daily.
“Thank you, thank you, thank you, thank you,” Kumigiya said while shaking the hands of the athletes and coaches at the close of the workout.
“We would also like to thank GAP president Cynthia Carrion, secretary general Weng Bautista and, of course, the Philippine Sports Commission for making our training camp and participation of our athletes in the Cambodia SEA Games possible,” added the Japanese mentor.
Yulo was pleased to train with his teammates anew as they aim to improve on their silver-medal finish in the team event in last year’s Vietnam Games.
“Inspired po kaming lahat na makuha ‘yung team gold sa Cambodia,” said Yulo, who expressed confidence they would be able to pull it off given the results of the hard training they experienced under the Japanese taskmaster.
