PH gymnast Ava Lorein gets crack at medal round in Youth Olympics
NANJING—Gymnast Ava Lorein Verdeflor staggered on landing, but her solid routine proved enough to send her into the medal round of the women’s artistic gymnastics at the 2014 Youth Olympic Games here.
Verdeflor placed 12th in the qualification round of the all-around (beam, uneven bars, vault and floor exercise) where 16 of the 40 entries qualified Tuesday.
“I didn’t do good in my dismount but hopefully next time it will be better,” said the 15-year-old Verdeflor, who is based in Plano, Texas.
Russia’s Seda Tutkhalyan garnered the highest score in the all-around (53.650) with Elissa Downie of Great Britain placing second (53.500) and Romania’s Laura Jurca finishing third (53.250).
Verdeflor scored 50.200.
Though far from perfect, Verdeflor’s performance left her Russian coach Yevgeny Marchenko satisfied.
“She has a lot of potential and I believe she can do much better,” said Marchenko, who mentored Olympic gold medalist Carly Patterson of the United States in the 2004 Summer Olympics in Athens.
“We’re looking forward to many, many more years of topnotch performance from Ava,” added the five-time sports acrobatics world champion.
In the uneven bars where eight qualified for the finals, Verdeflor finished sixth (12.450) behind Wang Yan of China (13.250), Italy’s Iosra Abdelaziz (13.100), Russia’s Seda Tutkhalyan (13.000), Sae Miyakawa of Japan (12.850) and Laura Jurca of Romania (12.800).
Verdeflor will get the chance to rectify a few mistakes when she guns for a podium finish in the finals of both the all-around and uneven bars on Wednesday at Nanjing Olympic Stadium Gymnasium.
“I have to be confident and get my nerves in check,” said Verdeflor, who trained at the World Olympic Gymnastics Academy in Texas ahead of the Youth Olympics.
Swimmer Yu bombs out
But while Verdeflor and Marchenko brace for a first-ever Olympic medal for the Philippines in the Games for the best 14-18 year-old athletes in the world, swimmer Roxanne Ashley Yu missed the cut in the women’s 200-meter backstroke.
The 16-year-old Yu timed 2:18.96 and topped her heat of six swimmers at Nanjing Olympic Stadium Natatorium, but the effort was only good for 19th out of 30 overall in the event.
Only eight tankers advanced to the medal phase led by Hannah Moore of the United States (2:11.02), Australia’s Amy Forrester (2:12.85) and Ambra Esposito of Italy (2:13.00).
Yu, an athletic scholar at the British International School in Phuket, Thailand, earlier improved on her personal best of 1:05.20 with a 1:05.16 clocking in the 100m backstroke.
Also seeing action Wednesday are shooter Celdon Jude Arellano in the men’s 10-meter air rifle and Zion Rose Nelson in the 400m heats in track and field.
