2nd day Finals: ART World Cup – Doha / Qatar 22-24/3/2010
DOHA 24-3-2010: Chinese gymnasts yet again hogged the limelight by plundering four gold medals on the final day of the Third Artistic Gymnastics FIG World Cup yesterday.
The Chinese brigade topped the medals table with six gold medals, three silver and bronze medals each for a total of 11 medals. In all there were 10 golds at stake in his edition of the World Cup.
On the final day at the Aspire Dome, China won four gold medals of the five on offer. They also won one silver and bronze apiece on the day.
On the second day, they had dominated with five medals including two golds, two silvers and a bronze.
It was a huge disappointment for Qatar’s medal hope Nasser Al Hamad as he missed on a podium finish by a whisker.
The youngster tallied 15.600 points in the men’s Vault final to finish fourth. The bronze medal went to Jeffrey Wammes of The Netherlands who scored 15.612 points. The gold was won by Chinese Yulong Cao with a score of 16.062.
Speaking to the media after the final, Nasser admitted his disappointment. However, he tried to look at the brighter side by saying he was satisfied for having notched his best score of his career.
“Obviously, I am disappointed to have missed on a medal in front of the home fans. However, I can be proud and happy that I managed to put in a good performance. This has been my best so far. I can improve further and am looking forward to the other competitions coming up later this year,” the 20-year-old said.
Nasser will be aiming to win medals at the forthcoming Arab Cup in Kuwait, GCC Championship and also the World Championships. All these competitions along with the Asian Games in Guangzhou will be Nasser’s target in 2010.
Qatar Gymnastics Federation’s (QGF) President, Ali Al Hitmi congratulated Nasser for putting a brave effort amid strong contenders.
“I would like to congratulate Nasser for this performance. It was a very good effort from him. He could have won a medal but missed by a narrow margin. But we are happy with this show. We can expect a medal in the future from this talented youngster,” Al Hitmi said as he hugged Nasser and congratulated him after the competition.
Nasser had a consolation when he won the Aspire Rookie Award for male.
In the men’s Parallel Bar event, China’s Zhendong Dong clinched gold for his second medal of the World Cup.
He had won bronze in Pommel Horse event on the second day. Another Chinese woman won gold in the Balance Beam competition. Liufang Wu scored 14.700 points for top position while Croatian Tina Erceg finished second with 13.600 points. The bronze medal went to Jennifer Khwela of South Africa (13.350 points). Khwela had won gold in the Vault event on Tuesday.
After winning Balance Beam event, Wu added one more gold medal as she topped the Floor final. It was Wu’s third medal as she had clinched silver in Uneven Bars event on Tuesday.
China’s Quishuang Huang took Floor silver to add to her Uneven Bars’ gold won on Tuesday. Huang’s efforts won her the Aspire Rookie Award for female.
Results:
Men:
Vault: 1. Yulong Cao (China) 16.062 points, 2. Jevgenijs Sapronenko (Latvia) 15.862, 3. Jeffrey Wammes (The Netherlands) 15.612, 4. Nasser Al Hamad (Qatar) 15.600.
Parallel Bars: 1. Zhendong Dong (China) 15.900 points, 2. Adam Kierzkowski (Poland) 15.225, 3. Xuezhang Chen (China) 15.150.
Horizontal Bar: 1. Epke Zonderland (The Netherlands) 15.950 points, 2. Chenglong Zhong (China) 15.675, 3. Alijaz Pegan (Slovenia) 15.325.
Women:
Balance Beam: 1. Liufang Wu (China) 14.700 points, 2. Tina Erceg (Croatia) 13.600, 3. Jennifer Khwela (South Africa) 13.350.
Floor: 1. Liufang Wu (China) 13.975 points, 2. Quishuang Huang (China) 13.850, 3. Goksu Uctas (Turkey) 13.700.
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