China climbed out the abyss, their fifth place at the Athens
Olympics a distant memory, as they won the men's team title at
Aarhus gymnastics world championships in Denmark yesterday, scoring
277.775 points.
Russia took the silver with 275.400 points by notching a win on
pommels, and second place on the parallel bars and the high
bar.
Japan won the high bar with 45.050 points despite a fall by
all-around champion Tomita Hiroyuki, who took only 13.850, costing
Japan the opportunity to finish second and making them settle for
the bronze.
China and Japan began on floor, Russia and Romania on pommels,
Canada and Germany on rings, Switzerland and Belarus on vault.
Both Chinese Zou Kai (14.050) and Japanese Hiroyuki Tomita
(14.575) started with faults by stepping out of the floor area.
Russia scored high on pommels (45.350) before the Romanians
opened their team-account on the same apparatus (44.700). Canada's
total on the rings was 44.575 compared to Germany's 45.300 points.
Switzerland marked 47.675 on vault, while Belarus earned 47.000 on
the same apparatus.
China won the gold with 277.775 points after six disciplines,
winning the rings with 47.625, the vault with 48.900 and parallel
bars with 47.125 points.
"We are here to set the first step on the road to 2008 Olympics and we proved that we are still
the best," said Huang Yubin, head coach of the Chinese team.
"Next, we will focus on stability, for in the new system of all
three competitors' marks counted, we cannot afford mistakes if we
want to win the gold. We made a few mistakes, but in a whole, we
did a quite good job. We brought young gymnasts here for them to
feel the atmosphere and pressure here, so mistakes are something
understandable," added Huang with a long-lost smile.
China's veteran Yang Wei said he felt the pressure after his
errors on the pommel horse.
"I am the only experienced person that anchors the team, so what
I need to do is to set an example for them. After dropping from the
horse, I just felt the embarrassment and remorse, but I told myself
I had to hold on for the following apparatuses. Fortunately, I was
getting better and better," said Yang, a member of the 2000 Olympic
team champions.
"My ultimate aim is to win in the Beijing Olympic Games, I
think, otherwise, I would probably have retired after the 2000
Sydney Olympics. I don't know whether I can be qualified in 2008
since China gets a lot of talented gymnasts and everything depends
on the exact situation in the last moment. What I need to do is of
course to continue a systematic training and prolong my form until
the Olympics come," said Yang, who will be 29 in 2008.
Pommel horse world champion Xiao Qin of China scored the best
with 16.075 points. China's veteran Yang Wei led the parallel bars
and vault with 16.100 and 16.575 points respectively. Another
Chinese Chen Yibing topped the rings with 16.500 points while
Japan's Eiichi Sekiguchi scored 15.700 points atop the high
bar.
Romania was in fourth with 272.225 points; Belarus in fifth with
272.050, Canada in sixth with 270.350, Germany in seventh with
270.025, Switzerland in eighth with 268.025.
On the women's side, China, finishing fourth at the Anaheim
worlds, somewhat over-shadowed the US blaze in the second-day's
qualifiers by taking three top positions in individual apparatus
and only trailing US by 3.800 points despite a few blunders. The US
scored 243.325 points to lead the qualification matches.
Yang Wei
Xiao Qin
Feng Jing
(Xinhua News Agency?October 18, 2006)
