It looks like one more Filipino gymnast will be competing for 2024 Paris Olympic berths in the FIG Artistic Gymnastics World Championships in Antwerp, Belgium in September.

Juancho Miguel Besana will join Carlos Yulo, Aleah Finnegan and Kylee Kvamme to the world championships in September. (File Photo/MB)

The development came after the International Gymnastics Federation notified that Juancho Miguel Besana qualified for the vault and horizontal bar events of the said world tourney.

In two separate letters to the Gymnastics Association of the Philippines, the international federations’ sports events manager Stephane Detraz informed the Besana has been given a “MAG Apparatus Specialist quota place” on the two apparatus after quota places meant for other national federations declined, opening up spots for him.

“As a reminder, Apparatus Specialists can only compete only on the Apparatus they qualified for,” Detraz wrote.

It was a milestone achievement both for GAP and Besana as the Philippines will now have four gymnasts vying for coveted Olympic berths in the world meet after two-time world champion Carlos Yulo, Aleah Finnegan and Kylee Kvamme clinched tickets in last month’s Asian Championships in Singapore.

While it was a big boost to be able to have a chance to compete at the world stage, a logistical matter poses a challenge for the Southeast Asian Games gold medalist as he is also expected to anchor the Philippine team in the 19^thHangzhou Asian Games in China, which runs at the same time as the world champs.

Besana is tasked to lead the squad since Yulo, who is aiming for a second Olympic appearance, decided to skip the Asiad to focus on the worlds.

The artistic gymnastics competition in the Asiad will run from Sept. 24 to 29, while the worlds will start on Sept. 30.

Still, Besana and his coach Reyland Capellan, welcome this good challenge, knowing that opportunities like this do not come often.