MANILA, Philippines – Carlos Yulo made up for a disappointing exit in floor exercise and qualified for the rings and parallel bars finals in the Baku, Azerbaijan leg of the FIG Artistic Gymnastics World Cup Series on Thursday, March 9.

The Filipino star failed to advance in the event which he ruled in the Doha, Qatar stop last week but redeemed himself in rings and parallel bars as he looks to add more to his four-medal haul in the World Cup Series this year.

Yulo primed himself for a third straight podium finish in parallel bars in this World Cup Series after placing second in the qualification with 15.333 points.

He snagged bronze in the opening leg in Cottbus, Germany and improved his placing with a silver in Doha.

USA’s Curran Phillips topped the qualification with 15.5 points, while Ukraine’s Illia Kovtun, Japan’s Kazuki Matsumi, Colombia’s Dilan Jimenez Giraldo, France’s Cameron-Lie Bernard, Egypt’s Mohamed Afify, and Uzbekistan’s Rasuljon Abdurakhimov also reached the finals.

For the first time in this World Cup Series, Yulo qualified for the rings final after landing at fifth place with a score of 14.166 points.

Home bet Nikita Siminov paced the 40-man rings field with 14.733 points as Iran’s Mahdi Ahmad Kohani, Vietnam’s Van Khanh Phong Nguyen, Turkey’s Mehmet Kosak, USA’s Riley Loos, Austria’s Vinzenz Hoeck, and Chinese Taipei’s Lin Guan-Yi completed the finals cast.

It has been a roller-coaster World Cup Series campaign for Yulo as he scored a breakthrough triumph in floor exercise in Doha after bowing out of the qualification of the same event in Cottbus.

But the 23-year-old failed to replicate his success in Doha, managing to record just 13.1 points for 21st place in Baku.

Yulo eyes another finals berth in vault, where he clinched bronze in Doha, on Friday before he competes in the rings and parallel bars finals on Saturday. – Rappler.com