MANILA, Philippines – Emma Malabuyo is going to the Olympics after all.

The Filipina-American bet punched her ticket to the Paris Games by capturing the bronze medal in the individual all-around of the Women’s Artistic Gymnastics Asian Championships in Tashkent, Uzbekistan, on Friday, May 24.

Giving the Olympics a final shot after falling short of qualifying through the FIG Artistic Gymnastics World Cup Series, Malabuyo totaled 50.398 points in the continental tiff to become the fourth Filipino gymnast to earn a Paris berth.

She will join fellow gymnasts Carlos Yulo, Aleah Finnegan, and Levi Jung-Ruivivar.

Although Chinese gymnasts Hu Jiafei (50.699) and Qin Xinyi (50.566) nailed gold and silver, respectively, Malabuyo still got the Olympic spot since China already has a qualified team.

Malabuyo clinched her Paris berth by the skin of her teeth as she edged Kazakhstan’s Aida Bauyrzhanova, who came in at fourth with 50.365 points.

Bauyrzhanova needed to score 13 points in vault – her final apparatus – to unseat Malabuyo, but she settled for 12.966 points.

Malabuyo shone in her pet event floor exercise with 13.333 points and scored 13.033 in vault, 12.566 in balance beam, and 11.466 in uneven bars.

Jung-Ruivivar finished seventh in the individual all-around with 49.166 points, while Ancilla Lucia Mari Manzano and Kaitlin de Guzman also saw action for the Philippines.

With Malabuyo joining the Paris cast, the Philippines will have its biggest gymnastics delegation in a single Olympics since it also sent four gymnasts in the 1964 Tokyo Games. – Rappler.com