[Singapore, 24 May 2023] – A star-studded lineup of some of the world’s top male and female gymnasts have confirmed participation for the 10th Asian Artistic Gymnastics Championships at the Singapore Sports Hub next month.

World champion Carlos Yulo (the Philippines), Olympic medallists Lee Chih-kai (Chinese Taipei) and Yeo Seo-jeong (South Korea) and Asian champion and World Championship silver medallist Ahmad Abu Al-Soud (Jordan) will headline the June 10-18 event at the OCBC Arena.

The Asian Championships is a key event in the road to the Paris 2024 Olympics. Athletes who want to qualify for the 2024 Games will first have to do well in the Singapore Asian Championships to earn their slots to this year’s World Championships in Belgium, a qualifier for the Paris Olympics. The top five teams at the Asian Championships will progress to the World Championships.

With an eye on Paris, the Philippines will be sending their best athletes to Singapore. Apart from Yulo, a two-time World Championships winner (floor exercise in 2019 and vault in 2021), Aleah Finnegan and Emma Malabuyo will be the star attractions.

Finnegan and Malabuyo, both 20, are now competing for the Philippines after previously representing the United States. Finnegan was part of Team USA which won the team gold at the 2019 Pan American Games. She represented the Philippines at the 2021 SEA Games and took home two golds and two silvers.

Malabuyo, who will be making her debut for the Philippines, has been part of the US national team since 2016 and was an alternate for the 2020 Olympics.

The Gymnastics Association of the Philippines has set the team a five-gold target.

While the team competition is set to take most of the spotlight, fans will also be thrilled by some keen rivalry on the individual apparatus.

Finnegan, who is expected to be one of the favourites in the vault, will face stiff competition from South Korea’s Yeo, the current Olympic bronze medallist in the vault.

The pommel horse is another event set to serve up a mouth-watering rivalry.

In Chinese Taipei’s Lee, fans will get to see one of the best pommel horse specialists in the world. The 27-year-old is the current Olympic silver medallist in the event, having also won a silver and a bronze at the 2019 and 2018 World Championships respectively.

He could be in for a showdown with Jordan’s Ahmad Abu Al-Soud, a double Asian champion and World Championships silver medallist in the event.

Singapore Open warm-up for Team Singapore gymnasts

The stellar field of gymnasts has Singapore’s very own SEA Games pommel horse silver medallist Kaeson Lim relishing the chance to compete against the big names of the sport.

Lim and the rest of the Team Singapore athletes will be taking part in the Singapore Open from May 26 - June 4 as a warm-up to the Asian Championships. The event will be held at the Bishan Sports Hall.

“As athletes, we always want to push ourselves and test ourselves against some of the best gymnasts in the world,” said the 23-year-old.

“I am excited to take on the big names of the sport in front of our Singapore fans. It will be a treat for our fans and we hope we can give them something to cheer about.”tc

Some of the other prominent names set to feature in the Asian Championships are gymnastics legend Oksana Chusovitina of Uzbekistan, an eight-time Olympian who is still competing at the age of 47, and Indonesia’s Rifda Irfanaluthfi, a silver medallist in the floor exercise at the 2018 Asian Games.

China’s Yang Jiaxing, a member of the squad that won the team gold at the 2022 World Championships, will also be in Singapore.

The Asian Championships is the first major continental event that Singapore Gymnastics is hosting. Singapore will host the Asian Junior Artistic Gymnastics Championships from June 10-12, followed by the Senior Championships from June 15-18.

At the 2022 Asian Championships in Doha, China topped the medal tally with eight golds, three silvers and five bronzes while the Philippines (3, 1, 0) and South Korea (2, 2, 4) were second and third respectively.

Members of the public can purchase their tickets for both the junior and senior championships at

https://www.2023asianchampionships.sg/ticket-sales/ . Tickets for a day pass start at $15.