Searching for Paris gold

MANILA, Philippines — As if by design, Carlos Yulo, gymnast par excellence, is firing the opening salvo for Team Philippines in the Paris Olympics, along with history-making rower Joanie Delgaco.

Yulo, a two-time world champion who’s projected as one of the brightest prospects for gold, is a man on a mission in these Games, a perfect fire-starter for the ambitious bid of the  22-strong contingent in the “City of Light.”

“I’m shooting for the stars,” the pocket-sized dynamo from Manila boldly stated in the Paris Olympics website ahead of the qualification round of the men’s all-around today at the Bercy Arena.

“Of course, (the goal is) a gold medal. I want to win in the floor exercise, vault, also. I’m also shooting for the individual all-around as well,” he added with conviction.

Yulo missed out on a podium finish in Tokyo so he’s more determined than ever to live up to his promise to dazzle in the French capital.

And it starts in Subdivision 2 of the all-around preliminaries at 3:30 p.m. (9:30 p.m. Philippine time) the initial session designed to separate the men from the boys and set the cast for the final dispute for glory on Wednesday.

Before Yulo struts his stuff on the mat, Delgaco takes the spotlight as the first Filipina to row in the Olympiad.

The pride of Iriga plunges into action in the women’s single sculls heats at 10:24 a.m. at the Vaires-sur-Marne Nautical Stadium in Île-de-France (4:24 p.m. in Manila).

She’s drawn in Heat 2 against five others including two-time world champion Karolien Florijn of the Netherlands. Delgaco must finish Top 3 in this group to advance to the quarterfinal phase; Otherwise, she’ll have to work her way up from the repechage.

Eumir Marcial, the bronze-winning boxer from the Japan edition, drew a bye in the men’s 80kg class’ opening Round of 32 and will start his bid on July 30 in the Last-16 against Uzbekistan’s Turabek Khabibullaev.

This means Marcial needs only four wins to upgrade his previous medal to gold. Tokyo silver medalist Carlo Paalam (men’s 57kg) and Hergie Bacyadan (women’s 75kg) are in the same situation as they begin their quests in the Round-of-16 versus Ireland’s Jude Gallager and China’s Lee Qian,