Caloy, Eldrew ready to engage Asia’s best

A handful of Olympic and Asian champions will test the mettle of brothers Carlos and Eldrew Yulo when they compete in the 20th Asian Games in Nagoya, Japan.

Despite being among the favorites for the gold medal, the Yulo brothers will have to contend with some of the continent’s best gymnasts when the men’s artistic gymnastics competition starts on 21 September at the Nagoya General Gymnasium.

Olympic gold medalists Hashimoto Daiki and Oka Shinnosuke will lead host Japan’s medal campaign.

Hashimoto, regarded as the successor to Japanese gymnastics legend Uchimura Kohei, is a three-time Olympic gold medalist and five-time world champion.

Oka, meanwhile, is a three-time Olympic champion and has won four Asian titles for Japan.

Carlos and Oka are also familiar with each other, having been teammates at the Tokushukai Gymnastics Club in Kamakura, Japan.

China will also be represented by Zhang Boheng, who is expected to be among the Yulos’ biggest challengers in the individual all-around.

The 26-year-old Zhang is the defending Asian Games individual all-around champion and has won three Asian Games medals, along with two world titles.

The Yulo brothers arrived in Japan earlier this month for training as they continued their preparations and acclimatization for the Asian Games.

Gymnastics Association of the Philippines president Cynthia Carrion said Eldrew, who is making his Asian Games debut, is eager to test himself against the continent’s best.

“Oh, he’s very, very, very excited. He’s really looking forward to these Asian Games because it’s the first Asian Games he’s going to join,” Carrion said.

“Well, Eldrew is also inspired by his brother. They’re very inspiring to each other. They really love to compete together.”