PHNOM PENH—Carlos Yulo won his third individual all-around gold medal in the Southeast Asian Games and helped his teammates claim another silver medal on Monday in opening day hostilities of the men’s artistic gymnastics meet at the National Olympic Stadium here.
Banking on strong scores in the floor exercise (14.350), vault (15.00), parallel bars (14.00) and rings (14.150) to offset his mediocre output in the pommel horse (12.650) and high bar (12.90), Yulo ended the day with the best individual tally of 84.00 points at the Olympic Stadium.
He finished way ahead of Vietnamese Thang Tung Le and Phung Tanh Dinh, who settled for the silver and bronze medal with scores of 80.45 and 78.150 points, respectively.
“Masaya po ako. Binigay po naming lahat nang makakaya namin para madepensahan ito,” said Yulo, who had a higher tally of 85.150 on his second successful title defense last year in Hanoi.
“I’m happy with the result because I had two weeks to prepare. I was able to do it and I’m so thankful,” Yulo said. “Training in Manila helped a lot because it’s so hot here in Cambodia. Our preparation helped us to get ready 100 percent.”
Yulo and Team Philippines, along with replacement gymnast John Romeo Santillan managed to get a silver with 305.2 points.
An almost intact Vietnamese side, with only one gymnast replaced, reclaimed the gold medal with 313 points.
“They did well. They had a great execution of routines,” said coach Reyland Capellan.
Phuong Than Dinh settled for the individual all-around brone with 78.150 points.
Yulo’s other teammate Juancho Besana was fifth with 73.70 points.
Gwyn Timbang, John Ivan Cruz and John Santillan, who took the place of Matthew Vergata, also contributed points for Team Philippines.
The 23-year-old Yulo will seek two more podiums in the parallel bar and high bar.