Yulo tops world rankings

MANILA, Philippines — Caloy Yulo, touted as the Philippines’ best bet to nail the elusive Olympic gold medal in Tokyo next year, is now the world’s highest ranked gymnast in floor exercise.

Based on the recently-released International Gymnastics Federation rankings, the 20-year-old Filipino has earned a total of 70 points to enable the 2019 world champion to zoom to the top.

Yulo actually shared the No. 1 spot with Spain’s Rayderley Zapata, and ahead of fierce rivals Kirill Prokopev of Russia and Artem Dolgopyat of Israel, who were in third and fourth with 64 and 60 ranking points, respectively.

This bodes well for the pocket-sized wonder from Leveriza, Manila, who is hoping to deliver the country’s first gold medal in the quadrennial Summer Games.

Yulo is coming off a two-bronze haul in the 74th All-Japan Championships in the floor exercise and vault events.

Yulo also copped a bronze in the 2020 All-Japan Seniors several months back as well as two gold and five silver medals in last year’s Southeast Asian Games in Manila.

Yulo is currently training in Japan.