IT wasn’t the medal color Caloy Yulo was yearning for.
But in a competition graced by a stellar cast of world and Olympic champions, a silver and a bronze shouldn’t be that bad for someone who is just getting started to heat up.
Mr. Yulo settled for a parallel bars silver and a vault bronze Saturday that capped an impressive performance in the Doha, Qatar leg of the FIG Artistic Gymnastics World Cup Series.
The 22-year-old Filipino star had a 14.933 to cop the silver in the parallel bars topped by Ukrainian Illia Kovtun (14.966) and had a 14.833 in vault to claim the bronze in the vault ruled by Armenian Artur Davtyan (15.083).
The pair of podium finishes completed an impressive haul that was highlighted by a golden feat in Mr. Yulo’s pet event — floor exercise — where he blew away the field with a magnificent 14.833 Friday.
It was a marked improvement from a parallel bars bronze he captured in the kickoff leg in Cottbus, Germany just less than a week ago.
The pocket-sized dynamo from Leveriza in Manila is expected to shoot for more glory as he was scheduled to see action in the final two legs of the series in Baku, Azerbaijan slated March 9 to 12 and Cairo, Egypt set from April 27 to 30.
These events are part of Mr. Mr. Yulo’s preparation for next year’s Paris Olympics where he will shoot for nothing less than a breakthrough gold in the quadrennial event in the sport. — Joey Villar