Team Philippines will be parading a star-studded roster when it sees action in the gymnastics competition of the 20th Asian Games in Nagoya next month.

In the official lineup released by the Philippine Olympic Committee (POC) on Tuesday, double Olympic gold medalist Carlos Yulo and his young brother in rising star Karl Eldrew will be at the helm together with Olympian Levi Ruivivar and a slew of seasoned international campaigners.

Composing the men’s artistic gymnastics squad are Juancho Miguel Besana, Justine Ace de Leon and Zachary Cortins Nuñez while Ruivivar will be joined by Kylee Kvamme, Chiara Dawn Andrew, Lauren Supnet and Haylee Garcia in the distaff side.

Meanwhile, the rhythmic gymnastics team will feature Breanna Labadan and Jasmine Althea Ramilo together with the trampoline duo of Jerry Ilano Jr. in the men’s class and Luvicar Janine Padilla in the women’s category.

Sideliners believe that the Filipinos have what it takes to win multiple gold medals with the Yulo brothers, who are still fresh from a solid performance in the 13th Senior Artistic Gymnastics Asian Championships in Zunyi, China last June, and Ruivivar vying in the prestigious continental meet that would be held at the Nagoya City General Gymnasium from 20 to 24 September.

But Gymnastics Association of the Philippines president Cynthia Carrion was quick to temper the mounting expectations.

“We won’t know until we compete in Nagoya. We’ll see how we perform there.” said Carrion, a veteran sports official who is very much familiar with the quality of competition and the various challenges that await her wards in the Asian Games, in a recent telephone interview with DAILY TRIBUNE.

Although the elder Yulo has already collected 12 gold medals at the continental level during his dominant run in the Asian Artistic Gymnastics, no Filipino has ever won a gold medal in the gymnastics competition of the Asian Games.

Yulo was billed to emerge as an Asian Games gold medalist in the Hangzhou edition four years ago, but he pulled out at the last minute as it coincided with the World Gymnastics Championships — a crucial tourney that served as qualifier for the Summer Olympics in Paris.

This time, Yulo has a good chance to emerge victorious as he will march oozing with confidence with two Olympic gold medals hanging around his neck. But more than that, the three-time world champion is very much familiar with the Japanese brand of gymnastics as he trained in Tokyo starting 2016 under the watchful eyes of noted Japanese coach Munehiro Kugimiya.

Carrion, however, asserted that nothing will be easy so she is focusing on boosting the training and preparation of Yulo and other competitors in the men’s artistic gymnastics competition.

“Right now, I’m concentrating on the MAG (men’s artistic gymnastics) team because I know we can make it there,” said Carrion, adding that she had lined up some international exposures for the Filipino gymnasts together with national coach Aldrin Castaneda.

“We will have camps in Japan and another one in the Netherlands because those are the countries that invited us.”

Still, Carrion believes that the team’s skills, experience and fighting spirit will be enough to clinch the very elusive Asian Games title in the sport that is largely dominated by Japan and China as well as the former Soviet countries like Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan.

“Carlos is strong, Eldrew is strong – everybody on our MAG team is strong,” she said.

“I’m really making sure that they train hard and come up with a good preparation for the Asian Games.”