Finals or bust for Filipina gymnasts

MANILA, Philippines — The Philippine gymnastics women bets, led by Elisabeth Antone, take the spotlight in today’s resumption of the 3rd FIG Artistic Gymnastics Junior World Championships at the Newport World Resorts’ Marriott Grand Ballroom in Pasay.

Antone, along with Maxine Bondoc, Sabina Tayag and Jellian Bantillan, take the floor in subdivision 6 along with the entries of Panama, Brazil, Argentina, Spain and the Netherlands starting at 8:30 p.m.

They slug it out for spots in the individual all-around finals set tomorrow.

It will be the last of the six subdivisions as the first group opens the show at 10 a.m. with the rest following suit every two hours.

It is in this stage where Antone and the other Filipinas could book a spot in the apparatus finals slated Sunday and Monday.

The 16-year-old Antone, who captured an individual all-around bronze in last June’s Asian Championships in Jecheon, South Korea, should go all out in making it to the finals and shoot for nothing less than a medal.

Bondoc is another local bet to watch out for as she came out of nowhere to qualify in the uneven bar finals in the same Jecheon meet where Antone savored a podium finish.

“We’ve high hopes on our gymnasts,” said Gymnastics Association of the Philippines president Cynthia Carrion.

Karl Eldrew Yulo, the country’s other best hope for podium honors, together with teammates Hilario Palles III, Anthony Palles and CJ Pernia vied in the boys’ preliminaries last night.