Chinese Olympic champion Li Xiaopeng won two of his three events in
the last-day gymnastics finals, winning the vault and parallel bars
titles to the applause of the audience at the Sajik Gymnasium
Saturday afternoon.
Chinese Olympic champion Li Xiaopeng won two of his three events in
the last-day gymnastics finals, winning the vault and parallel bars
titles to the applause of the audience at the Sajik Gymnasium
Saturday afternoon.
At
the end of the five-day gymnastics tournament in the Asian Games,
Li, a member of the winning Chinese men's team, also became a
triple gold medalist, to join the ranks with fellow gymnasts Teng
Haibin and Huang Xu.
Li, a banner-bearer of the Chinese men's team, stirred up roars of
cheers with his excellent performances in the vault and parallel
bars routines.
In
the day's first final of the vault, he displayed his difficult and
superb actions, collecting 9.700 in his first try and scoring 9.775
in his second with a solid landing for an average 9.737 points,
awarding the eighth gymnastic gold for China.
His compatriot and Olympic champion Yang Wei was 0.062 behind to
take the silver medal, while host South Korea's Kim Dae-yeun
finished third in 9.312 points.
In
the following parallel bars, Li again entertained the full-capacity
audience with his master skills and stamina to secure his second
gold of the day in 9.800 points, which was only tied by fellow
gymnast Huang Xu for a double golds for China.
"I
performed quite well on the vault and parallel bars, but not on the
horizontal bar," Li said after the finals, "And I need to improve
my horizontal bar routines after I back home."
"I
couldn't have a full training because of the injuries," explained
Li who was suffering injuries to his left knee before the Asian
Games.
Chinese national head coach Huang Yubin lavished his praise upon
his disciple, saying Li was "an excellent gymnast with experiences
who can skillfully use his strength."
Li, a key member in the Chinese men's team after the Sydney Olympic
Games, spoke highly of his teammates, especially youngest Teng
Haibin as the debutant exerted very well in all the events he
participated.
And Liang Fuliang, who replaced Olympic champion Xing Aowei for the
Busan Games, also did his best to help the Chinese team secure the
team gold medal days ago, Li said.
Teng also collected three golds from the team event, the pommel
horse, together with DPR Korean Kim Hyon-il and the horizontal
bar,which ushered in another pair of winners, Japanese Hiroyuki
Tomitaand South Korean Yang Tae-seok.
Li
Xiaopeng, who was honored as the best male gymnast in the Busan
Asian Games, hoped that China will win more golds at the 2004
Olympic Games in Athens.
( October 6, 2002)