“Wish Caloi-san the best of luck.”
This was the greeting of respect that Koshikawa Kazuhiko, the ambassador of Japan to the Philippines, expressed to Carlos Yulo following his impressive performances at the 51st FIG Artistic Gymnastics World Championships.
Yulo advanced to the finals of the prestigious sports competition in Liverpool, England on October 31.
The 22-year-old world champion also exhibited head-turning performances in the following disciplines:
- Floor exercise – 15.266 score
- Vault – 14.849 score
- Parallel bars – 15.300
- Individual all-around finals – 84.644
Moreover, Yulo also finished as the third-highest qualified athlete for the individual all-around finals event.
He stood next to Japanese athletes Watary Tanigawa (84.731) and Daisuke Hashimoto (84.665).
On November 1, Yulo’s performance for the floor exercise discipline was featured in a post from the official social media pages of FIG or the International Gymnastics Federation.
“Carlos Yulo has a world title on the Floor Exercise for a reason. A sublime routine from the 2019 world champion earns him a soaring 15.266 to be top qualifier,” the post reads.
2/7:
Carlos Yulo 🇵🇭 has a world title on the Floor Exercise for a reason. A sublime routine from the 2019 world champion earns him a soaring 15.266 to be top qualifier. #ARTWorlds2022 #WGC2022 #RoadToParis2024 #OlympicQualifiers @WGC2022 pic.twitter.com/Wq4RWVo3uz— FIG (@gymnastics) November 1, 2022
The Japanese ambassador to the Philippines reacted to this post on November 3.
In a quote retweet, Kazuhiko congratulated both Yulo and his coach for their achievement in the international sports event.
“My warmest congratulations to Philippines Gymnastics champ Carlos Yulo and Japanese coach Kugimiya Munehiro for the incredible #ARTWorlds2022 qualifiers performance,” the ambassador said.
Kazuhiko then added a Japanese honorific suffix to Yulo’s name in his well-wishes to the young world champion.
“Wish Caloi-san the best of luck as he competes in all-around, floor, vault, and parallel bars finals on Nov.4-6! Ganbatte kudasai!” he said.
My warmest congratulations to 🇵🇭Gymnastics champ Carlos Yulo and 🇯🇵coach Kugimiya Munehiro for the incredible #ARTWorlds2022 qualifiers performance. Wish Caloi-san the best of luck as he competes in all-around, floor, vault, & parallel bars finals on Nov.4-6! Ganbatte kudasai! https://t.co/r0Q9aNBDX1
— Ambassador of Japan in the Philippines (@AmbJPNinPH) November 3, 2022
Thought Co, an online education hub, explained that the Japanese suffix “san” is added to the names of individuals to address them with reverence, respect or politeness.
The Japanese expression “Ganbatte kudasai”, meanwhile, roughly translates to “Please, do your best at work.”
Filipinos also expressed their amazement over Yulo’s floor exercise performance via the replies and comments to FIG’s posts.
“Superb performance of Carlos Yulo,” a Twitter user said.
“Rooting for him to take an all-around medal!” another online user commented.
Others also showered Yulo with support in his upcoming tilts in the world championships.
“How hard he must have worked to get where he is. Such determination and drive!! God bless him! Such talent!” one Facebook user said.
Despite such an impressive feat, Yulo said in an interview that he is still “not that satisfied” because he has a lot of areas in the field in which he has yet to excel at.
“Right now, I’m really glad but not that satisfied because there are lot of areas that I can improve on, especially pommel horse,” the Olympian was quoted as saying in an article.
Prior to this, last May, Yulo scored his third gold medal in the 31st Southeast Asian Games in Quan Ngua Sports Palace in Hanoi, Vietnam.
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