US stint augurs well for gymnasts bid for gold

The members of the Philippine gymnastics sports aerobics team are all dressed up and pumped up for the coming Southeast Asian Games.

Cynthia Carrion, vice president of the Gymnastics Association of the Philippines, yesterday said the team just came in from the US and expressed high hopes for the SEA Games.

The team saw action in the 16th International Aerobic Championship Aug. 12-17 at the Manhattan Beach Marriott, California where it performed extremely well.

"This is the first time that we really performed well against the world’s best in sports aerobics. That’s why we’re so happy," said Carrion, an aerobics practitioner herself.

While there are 24 gold medals at stake in gymnastics, four of them will be disputed in aerobics–men’s and women’s individual, trios and mixed pair.

Thirty-two countries, including aerobics powerhouse Argentina, Brazil, Australia, Japan and the US saw action in the tournament where the Filipinos made their presence felt.

Allena Luis and Carmendo Ensomo made it to the semifinals of the mixed-pair event while Jhennylo Gacula made it to the top 10 of the individual youth event.

Vinia Pamplona saw action in the individual female competition and like the rest of her teammates managed to hold their ground against the world’s best in the sport.

"We are quite ecstatic because this is the first time that we finished among the top, considering that this is no ordinary competition," added Carrion. — Abac Cordero