JAKARTA, Indonesia – A major blunder reduced Carlos Yulo from a rising star into a tail-ender to underscore the country’s gloomy campaign in the 18th Asian Games Thursday at the Jakarta International Expo Hall here.

The 18-year old Yulo crashed in his routine, prompting him to fall all the way to seventh place with 13.500 points in the finals of his pet event – the men’s floor exercise of gymnastics.

Kim Hansol of Japan clinched the gold medal with 14.675 points while Tang Chia-Hung of Chinese Taipei and Lin Chaopan of China settled for silver and bronze medals with 14.425 and 14.225 points, respectively.

One of the country’s brightest hopes to become Asian champion after training in Japan for the past three years, all eyes were on Yulo after qualifying in this event with flying colors last Tuesday.

He made it to the finals with 14.50 points, a strong performance that Gymnastics Association of the Philippines president Cynthia Carrion claimed to warrant a “sure gold medal for the Philippines in the finals.”

Yulo wilted under pressure as he committed two failed landings and stumbled on his third pass, prompting the judges to deduct him with one point, effectively stripping the gold medal away from the Filipino prodigy.

“I’m sorry, I didn’t see the floor. I lost my focus while I was mid-air,” said Yulo, who was looking to become the youngest Filipino gold medalist in the Asian Games after Lydia de Vega who grabbed the mint in the women’s 100-meter run in the New Delhi edition in 1982.

Yulo still has one event – the men’s vault – on Friday.

And he vowed to do everything to make up for the error he committed.

“I will try my best to make up for it,” he said.

Yulo’s failure to deliver perfectly underscored the Filipinos’ setback in all fronts as this prestigious quadrennial tourney entered its midway mark.

Save for the Philippine women’s volleyball team, which defeated Hong Kong to register its first Asian Games win since clobbering India in the New Delhi Games in 1982 and the Blu Girls, which is clashing with Chinese Taipei for a chance to be assured of a bronze medal in softball at press time, Filipino athletes elsewhere had rusty performance.

In taekwondo, Arven Alcantara yielded to Lee Daehoon, 26-5, in the quarterfinals of the men’s 68kg category while Baby Jessica Canabal suffered a 15-23 loss to Kahid Kiyanichandeh of Iran also in the quarterfinals of the women’s -49kg at the Jakarta International Convention Center.

In squash, Robert Garcia downed Southeast Asian champion Timothy Leong of Singapore, 3-0, to book a Round of 16 battle with Hps Sandhu of India later in the day in the men’s singles at the GBK Squash Stadium.

Another Filipino in David Pelino, however, fell prey to Ammar Altamimi of Kuwait, 0-3, in the other singles battle.

In archery, Nichole Tagle bombed out of the Round of 16 of the women’s individual recurve after absorbing a 2-6 setback to Kang Chaeyoung of Korea at the GBK Archery Field.