‘Capping’ rules leave Yulo hamstrung

Philippines’ Carlos Edriel Yulo competes during the Men’s Parallel Bars final at the World Gymnastics Championships in Liverpool, northern England on November 6, 2022. (Photo by Ben Stansall / AFP) 

The capping of participation per athlete in the Southeast Asian (SEA) Games will ground Carlos Yulo’s ability to hoard gymnastics gold in the 32nd edition of the event in Cambodia.

Cambodian organizers of the May 5 to 17 sportsfest has put a cap on Yulo’s projected haul, completely denying the two-time world champion the opportunity to duplicate his output in last year’s SEA Games in Vietnam.

“He is only allowed to win three gold medals according to Cambodia,” said gymnastics chief Cynthia Carrion-Norton.

The 4-foot-11 bundle of energy won the most number of gold medals for the Philippines in the 2022 Vietnam meet, collecting the mints in the men’s artistic gymnastics all-around, floor exercise, still rings, vault and horizontal bar.

Yulo also got a silver in parallel bars and anchored a second-place finish in the team event.

“Even if he sweeps all of his events, they will give him only three [golds]. It was supposed to be only two, but I complained to the organizers and they made it three,” said Carrion, president of the Gymnastics Association of the Philippines.