Tough routine wins Capellan another gymnastics gold

KUALA LUMPUR — Reyland Capellan has been practicing the same routine every day for the past two years.

And when it mattered the most, practice made perfect. His routine, highlighted by a lot of high-score power jumps, won him the 29th Southeast Asian Games men’s artistic gymnastics floor exercise gold medal Tuesday.

“I did a lot of power tumblings,” said Capellan of his multiple somersaults that thrilled the judges at Malaysia International Trade and Exhibition Center Hall 6.

“I have that routine in my mind and I know exactly what to do,” said the 23-year-old Capellan, who retained the crown he won two years go in Singapore.

Reyland Capellan celebrates his gold medal win in Gymnastics in the 2017 SEA Games. CONTRIBUTED PHOTO/SEA GAMES POOL

The Masbate native said he was feeling nervous at the start of the competition, because “everybody is doing well, they are all good.”

But Capellan, who competed in the World Championships in Glasgow in 2015, went for jumps that carried high levels of difficulty.

Reyland Capellan competes in the men’s floor exercise event of the gymnastics competition of the 29th Southeast Asian Games Tuesday at the MATRADE Exhibition and Convention Centre in Kuala Lumpur. Capelan scored 13.950 points to win the gold medal. CONTRIBUTED PHOTO/SEA GAMES POOL

He totaled 13.950 points, enough to beat host Malaysia’s Zul Bahrin Bin Mat Asri (13.750) and Thailand’s Tikumporn Surintornta (13.600). The Philippines’ other entry in the final, 18-year-old novice John Matthew Vergara, finished eighth.

“I’m very proud of what I did, because I trained very hard, but before the competition I was very very nervous,” said Capellan who will still compete in vault on Wednesday.

Already he is thinking of his training for the Tokyo Olympics in 2020. “We are forming a team for the Olympic training,” he said.

His coach Aldrin Castaneda said Capellan and Vergara are being groomed to form that training team.