Eldrew Yulo set to debut in All-Japan meet

Posted by ReyFort Media

EVEN in Tokyo, Japan, Karl Edlrew Yulo is tracing the footsteps of his celebrated older sibling and world vault champion Carlos Edriel Yulo, having qualified for the 79th All-Japan Gymnastics Championships set Nov. 13 to 16 at the Takasaki Arena in the Japanese province of Gunma.

“We would like to congratulate Eldrew for qualifying in the All-Japan Championships and pray he does well there like his brother Carlos before,” said gymnastics chief Cynthia Carrion of the younger Yulo, who is now being trained by celebrated Japanese coach Munehiro Kugimiya.

Carrion said that Kugimiya, who has been training Eldrew for several months now, informed national coach Reyland Capellan that the gymnast had made the grade recently after evaluating his performance at the Sohgoh Gymnastics Club in Nagoya, Japan.

Kugimiya, who also trained the Filipino Paris Olympic Games double gold medalist, is currently the head coach of the men’s artistic gymnastics squad of the club.

Carrion said the All-Japan Gymnastics Championships will serve as the tune-up meet for the younger Yulo before he plunges into action in the 3rd FIG Artistic Gymnastics Junior World Championships opening on Nov. 20 at the Marriott Manila Hotel Grand Ballroom inside the Newport World Resorts in Pasay City.

A former Batang Pinoy National Games standout, the gymnast was in Manila last week and strutted his wares in front of participants of the BP gymnastics meet held at the GAP MVP Sports Training Center in Intramuros.

“Eldrew impressed the BP participants with the new skills and routines he learned for the junior worlds. He really looked sharp and, hopefully, he will be able to really shine in the competition and win medals for us,” Carrion said.

Eldrew will make his debut in the All-Japan Championships featuring the top gymnasts and clubs from all over Japan and where his older brother stamped his class on the way to making himself a force to reckon with on the world stage.

In the 2019 edition, the pint-sized phenom won a gold in one of his pet events, the floor exercise, scoring 14.8 points in tying his role model, Japanese world and Olympic all-around champion Kohei Uchimura.

Three years later, he did it again in the All-Japan meet, ruling the floor exercise on top of garnering a bronze medal in the vault apparatus.

With Kugimiya by his side, Yulo’s younger brother will now aim to match – if not surpass – his accomplishments before flying home to compete at the World Juniors. (B. Pedralvez/Malaya)