Yulo making presence felt

Things are looking good for Carlos Yulo as he leads the men's individual all-around event in the 10th Senior Artistic Gymnastics Asian Championships on Thursday at the OCBC Center in Singapore.

The 23-year-old Olympian posted 85.930 points in the individual all-around to lead the 83-man field that includes gymnasts from China, Japan and South Korea.

He registered 15.066 points in the parallel bars, 14.996 in floor exercise, 14.833 points in vault, 14.300 points in rings, 13.466 points in men's horizontal bar and 13.266 points in pommel horse to grab the overall lead in the early stretch of the competition.

Chinese Taipei bets Yeh Cheng and Lee Chih-Kai are currently at the second and third places, respectively, after posting 78.297 and 78.265 points, respectively.

Southeast Asian Games gold medalist Juancho Miguel Besana is at sixth with 73.531 points while Justine Ace de Leon is at 14th place with 62.565 points followed by another SEA Games champion John Ivan Cruz at 16th (50.533 points) and Jann Gwynn Tiimbang at 20th (34.533 points).

The Philippine quintet is currently in second place with 237.193 points in the team all-around category behind Chinese Taipei, which has 238.266 points.

Hosts Singapore is currently in third place with 212.545 points.

The Philippines is now waiting for the final results as defending champion China and Japan are still performing as of press time.

The Philippines is seeking to improve from its ninth-place finish from the Doha edition of the tournament last year.

Yulo is also looking to get into the top eight to qualify for the 52nd FIG Artistic Gymnastics World Championships in Antwerp, Belgium, a qualifier for the 2024 Paris Olympics, this September.

Also making her debut in the Asian Championships is Filipino-American gymnast Aleah Finnegan, who performs today in the women's individual all-around.

She joins Lucia Guttierez, Kylee Ann Kvamme, Emma Lauren Malabuyo and Ancilla Lucia Mari Manzano for the team all-around.