Breanna Labadan secured her place in her second consecutive Rhythmic Gymnastics World Championships appearance after finishing ninth overall in the all-around final of the 2023 Asian Championships on Friday at the Ninoy Aquino Stadium in Malate, Manila.
Labadan made up for her shaky performance with the hoop to end with a total score of 110.40, booking her place in this year’s Worlds scheduled in Valencia, Spain.
The 16-year-old upstart finished ahead of Singaporean Mikayla Angeline Yang’s 105.75 and just behind Japanese Yamada Aino’s 112.30.
Labadan, who finished 13th in the event in last year’s Asian Championships in Pattaya, Thailand, flirted with a score of 30 in the ball with 29.55 and will look to perform better in the apparatus’ final on Saturday.
The Butuan-native added 28.30 in clubs and 26.45 in ribbon after struggling with a score of 26.10 in hoops.
Uzbekistan’s Takhmina Ikromova remained the Asian all-around queen with 132.20, far ahead of Kazakhstan’s Elzhana Taniyeva with 128.35.
Wang Zilu of China ended in a distant third place with 121.80, narrowly surpassing another Uzbek competitor, Yosmina Rakhimova, who finished with 120.70.
