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| Carlos Yulo won his second Asian Games gold despite a brave fight from Mahdi Olfati. POC Media Pool |
MANILA—Another day, another gold for Carlos Yulo.
And another close call at that.
Despite a late scare from Iranian opponent Mahdi Olfati, Yulo claimed his second championship in the Asian Games after winning the vault finals on Friday.
Yulo, the reigning Olympic gold medalist in the vault, duplicated his floor exercise gold with a consistent performance in the vault finals, which was a far cry from his preliminary round struggles.
Yulo tallied a 14.733 in the first attempt and a 14.466 in the second for a 14.733 average, easily taking the top spot away from the preliminary phase topnotcher Ng Ka Ki of Hong Kong, who averaged 14.116 in the finale.
However, Olfati, the penultimate finalist, scored a 15.1 in his first attempt, putting him on the verge of stealing the gold away from Yulo.
In the second shot, though, Olfati landed a bit too far left, stepping on the boundary line while trying to keep himself from stumbling.
The costly landing gave Olfati a 13.966 in the second round and a 14.533 average, settling for the silver instead.
Ng eventually ended up with the bronze, while Migs Besana, the other Filipino in the eight-man field, ended up fifth behind fourth-place Kim Jaeho from South Korea.
Yulo is not yet done for the afternoon, as he will compete in the parallel bar finals later in the day.
