Besana eyes Asiad podium finish
‘He’s going to both. He will play in the Asian Games and fly to Belgium for the World Championships.’
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Daily Tribune‘He’s going to both. He will play in the Asian Games and fly to Belgium for the World Championships.’
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Gymnast Juancho Miguel Besana will be competing in two major international tournaments in September but puts his podium bid in the 19th Asian Games in China as a top priority.
Gymnastics Association of the Philippines president Cynthia Carrion shared that while Besana is scheduled to participate in the International Gymnastics Federation Artistic Gymnastics World Championships in Antwerp, Belgium, his main focus is to win the country's breakthrough medal in the Hangzhou Asiad.
"He's going to both. He will play in the Asian Games and fly to Belgium for the World Championships," Carrion told Daily Tribune in a phone conversation.
The 19-year-old Besana and John Ivan Cruz, who both won gold medals in the 32nd Southeast Asian Games in Cambodia last May, are set to banner the Philippines in the Asiad artistic gymnastics tourney set from 24 to 29 September at the Yellow Dragon Sports Center Gymnasium.
The duo will be the country's top bet in the continental sports meet with two-time world champion Carlos Yulo skipping the Asian Games to gun for a slot in the 2024 Paris Olympics in the World Championships slated 30 September to 8 October.
Besana will be competing in the men's vault and horizontal bars of the World Championships following his qualification via the "MAG Apparatus Specialist quota place" after other national federations declined.
The Philippines will field its biggest delegation in the most prestigious artistic gymnastics competition with four bets bannered by Yulo, Besana and Filipino-Americans Aleah Finnegan and Kylee Kvamme.
Carrion said she's not putting too much pressure on Besana in the World Championships as their main target is claiming an Asiad medal.
"He's still going to the Asian Games and he can fly immediately in Belgium. He might not win in the World Championships but it's a good experience for him," the federation chief said.
The individual and team all-around schedule as well as the apparatus schedules for the Asian Games have yet to be released.
With Yulo already an established champion, GAP is now molding Besana as a world-class athlete.
Besana finished eighth in the men's vault final of the FIG World Cup first leg in Cottbus, Germany last February.
Following his SEA Games vault conquest, Besana again qualified in the final of the 10th Senior Artistic Gymnastics Asian Championships in Singapore last June where he finished eighth.
Besana also trained in Japan with Karl Eldrew Yulo's younger brother Karl, last May and GAP is requesting the Philippine Sports Commission for him and Cruz to train there for the Asiad.
