Philippines to host Artistic Gymnastics Junior World Championships

MANILA, Philippines — It’s official.

The Philippines will host the Artistic Gymnastics Junior World Championships from November 15 to 24 at the Marriott Grand Ballroom in Taguig after recently receiving a communiqué from the FIG, or the world governing body of the sport, designating it as the venue of the huge event.

“You cannot imagine the work I put into this just to get the hosting as FIG has a lot of rules to follow. FIG people came here to see if the Philippines is capable of hosting a world championship,” said Gymnastics Association of the Philippines president Cynthia Carrion Saturday.

But Carrion said they would need all the support it could muster including the government to make the competition successful.

“We’re still waiting for government support as we need to buy two brand new apparatuses for the competition hall, training hall and warm up hall and we need to put up a big tent outside the Resort World to accommodate our training hall,” she said.

“We only have five months, and everyone’s help is important.”

Carrion said Alliance Global Group Chief Executive Officer Kevin Tan has been named as president of the organizing committee while presidential son Vinny Marcos has been appointed its chair.

All participants and delegation members will be housed at the posh Resorts World.

“All 7,000 athletes will be in the Resorts World and would be walking straight to the competition venue, no need for transportation and traffic,” said Carrion.

The country, of course, will field its best gymnasts headed by Eldrew Yulo, who recently snared the Asian Championship silver in South Korea.

Yulo is Paris Olympic double gold winner Carlos' younger brother.