Yulo soars in Liverpool

Carlos Yulo put himself in a position to win as much as four gold medals in the FIG Artistic Gymnastics World Championships in Liverpool, England. Photo courtesy of Jat Tenorio / GAP
Carlos Yulo displayed a flawless performance in the qualifying rounds of the 51st FIG Artistic Gymnastics World Championships early Tuesday (Manila time) at the M&S Bank Arena in Liverpool.
But the 22-year-old Filipino dynamo is still far from satisfied.
"It's a good result but it's just the qualifying," Yulo told FIG.com shortly after booking his slot in the finals of four events of this prestigious annual tourney.
"I'm not boasting, but it's not yet the finals. If I can do this kind of performance in the finals, then maybe I can be satisfied."
Against the world's best gymnasts, Yulo's emerged as one of the brightest stars.
The pride of Manila hammered his best performance when he registered 84.644 points to finish third in the qualifiers of the men's individual all-around event.
He also had a strong performance in the men's floor exercise event with a pacesetting 15.226 points, men's vault event with 14.849 points and men's parallel bars with 15.300 points.
He, however, bombed out in the finals of rings, where he finished 10th, horizontal bar, where he fared 31st, and pommel horse, where he landed at 102nd.
Still, Yulo is on track to prevail in men's all-around as he compiled 84.6664 points in all six apparatuses to finish third among 24 gymnasts.
Japanese powerhouse Wataru Tanigawa topped the all-around with 84.731 while Japanese Olympic gold medalist Daiki Hashimoto checked in second with 84.665.
"Of course, I would like to beat them. This is the first time I'm going to be in the first group and it is a big, big achievement for me,'' Yulo, who is accompanied by Gymnastics Association of the Philippines president Cynthia Carrion, head coach Munehiro Kugimiya, and therapist Jumpei Konno in his quest for world glory, said.
