In his Asian Games debut, 18-year-old Karl Eldrew Yulo swung his way to bronze in the men’s horizontal bar final on Friday, September 25, at the Nagoya City General Gymnasium.
Eldrew tied Kazakhstan’s Milad Karimi at 13.666 points but took the medal on execution, 8.566 to 7.766. China’s Hao Tian won gold with 14.700, while Japan’s Shinnosuke Oka claimed silver with 14.033.
The podium finish added another gymnastics medal to the Philippines’ tally.
The medal came after a difficult floor exercise final, where Eldrew finished seventh. Instead of letting the result weigh him down, he said he used the disappointment as motivation for the horizontal bar final.
“Yesterday I was disappointed, but hindi ko siya tinake as negative; ‘yung disappointment na ‘yun, tinake ko as motivation to fight for more,” Eldrew said in an interview with News5.
That motivation translated into a podium finish the following day. After the final, he reflected on his performance and shared a message encouraging athletes to push past self-doubt.
“Lupitan lang natin palagi at tapangan lang natin palagi. Tanggalin natin ‘yung self-doubt at laban lang tayo nang laban hanggang dulo. Sana safe tayo palagi at mag-ingat po tayo,” he said in an interview with ABS-CBN News.
His bronze came on the same day his older brother, Carlos Yulo, claimed his second gold of the Games in the men’s vault final, giving the Philippines another memorable moment in gymnastics.
For Eldrew, however, the podium finish was a moment of his own. After turning disappointment into motivation, he turned his Asian Games debut into a bronze-medal finish.