Fil-Am gymnast earns ticket to Paris

MANILA, Philippines —  Levi Jung-Ruivivar switched allegiance from the United States to the Philippines last year with one goal – make the Paris Olympics.

Mission accomplished.

The 17-year-old Fil-Am came through with an electrifying routine to clinch the silver medal in the FIG Artistic Gymnastics World Cup Series in Doha, Qatar yesterday and a ticket to Paris Games in July.

Surviving the qualification phase and snatching the eighth and last slot to the finals, Jung-Ruivivar dished out an effort to remember in the women’s uneven bars where she earned 13.633.

She became the third gymnast to make it to Paris, joining Carlos Yulo and Aleah Finnegan and the 10th Filipino alongside pole-vaulter EJ Obiena, boxers Eumir Marcial, Nesthy Petecio and Aira Villegas and weightlifters Vanessa Sarno, John Ceniza and Elreen Ando.

It will be the country’s biggest number of Olympic entries in gymnastics since fielding Norman Henson and Ernesto Beren in the 1968 edition in Mexico City.

And possibly one more is coming as another Fil-Am, Emma Malabuyo, is still in contention in earning her ticket to Paris as she will compete in the Asian Championships slated May 24 to 26 in Tashkent, Uzbekistan.