The Gymnastics Association of the Philippines (GAP) is confident brothers Carlos and Eldrew Yulo have strong chances of winning gold medals in the 20th Asian Games in Nagoya, Japan.

GAP president Cynthia Carrion expressed optimism about the country’s medal prospects, saying the national men’s artistic gymnastics (MAG) team will hold training camps in Japan and the Netherlands ahead of the prestigious continental tournament that is set from 21 to 25 September at the Nagoya Civic General Gymnasium.

“Carlos is strong, Eldrew is strong — everybody on our MAG team is very strong. I’m really making sure that they train hard,” Carrion said, adding that the rest of their MAG entries in Justin Ace de Leon, Miguel Besana and Eric Muñoz are also capable of delivering.

“Right now, I’m concentrating on the men’s artistic gymnastics team because I know we can make it there. We will have camps in Japan and another one in the Netherlands because those are the countries that invited us.”

The Filipinos are suffering a long medal drought in the gymnastics competition of the Asian Games. In fact, since its inclusion in 1974 in Tehran, no Filipino has reached the podium, much less won a gold medal.

Carlos, 26, could have ended that drought. He, however, skipped the 19th Asian Games in Hangzhou, China to focus on the 2023 World Championships in Antwerp, which served as a qualifier for the 2024 Paris Olympics.

This time, the elder Yulo enters the Asian Games as one of the favorites after winning two Olympic gold medals, six Asian Championships titles and the 2025 world vault crown.

Eldrew, meanwhile, began his senior career only in January but has already claimed a gold medal in the Antalya leg of the Artistic Gymnastics World Cup in March and a bronze medal in the floor exercise at the Asian Championships in Zunyi, China in June.

But the battle in Nagoya will not be easy as they will be stacked against a powerhouse field that include Asian champion Zhang Boheng of China and Japanese Olympic champions Shinnosuke Oka and Daiki Hashimoto.

Carrion, however, said it is too early to predict the outcome given the level of competition.