27-05-2025
Eldrew and Carlos Yulo's heir apparent? Young NCR gymnast Arman Hernandez Jr. bags five Palaro golds
ILOCOS NORTE - For a long time, Carlos and Eldrew Yulo were the household names in Palarong Pambansa as the brothers dominated gymnastics for two eras.
Their time in the national multi-sports conclave, though, is now over. But the trails they helped blaze continue on.
In fact, in the ongoing 2025 Palarong Pambansa in Ilocos Norte, one kid also from Yulo's home region NCR is starting to make a name for himself at only eight years old.
Arman Hernandez Jr., who originally had dancesport as his main discipline, nearly swept the elementary boys' division (cluster 1) after winning five gold medals and one bronze medal to cap off his Palaro debut.
The Pasay-born gymnast ruled the floor exercise, vault, horizontal bar, and individual all-around while helping his team dominate the team event. Hernandez' stellar feat came even though he has been participating in the sport for only a year now.
And this might no longer surprise everyone, but Hernandez gets his fuel to continue gymnastics from Carlos and Eldrew.
"Nakita ko lang po sa Facebook [si Kuya Caloy nu'ng nag-gold medal siya sa Paris Olympics] kaya po ako sumali [sa gymnastics]," Hernandez, who is close to the Yulo brothers since all of them reside in Manila, said on Tuesday.
"Masaya po ako [na nanalo ako ng limang gold medals]."
Hernandez put together a 9.200 performance in the floor exercise to beat his foes from Regions 1 and 10. He then posted a score of 9.300 in both vault and horizontal bar then collected 36.600 points in the individual all-around competition to complete his four-gold haul.
In the team championship, Hernandez, alongside Deen Gungob and Kizz Gungob, garnered a total of 115.500 points to edge out representatives from Central Visayas and SOCSKSARGEN.
—JMB, GMA Integrated News
