Uzbekistan’s Takhmina Ikromova Dominates 14th Rhythmic Gymnastics Asian Championships, Retains All-Around Crown
MANILA – Uzbekistan’s Takhmina Ikromova was in a class her own anew Friday to handily retain the individual all-around crown of the 14th Rhythmic Gymnastics Asian Championships at the Ninoy Aquino Stadium here. After anchoring the Uzbeks to the team championship on Thursday, Ikromova remained on top of her game in ruling the hoop (34.00), ball (33.75), ribbon (31.50) events and was second in the clubs (32.95).
She had a total ouput of 132.20 points in bagging her second gold, way ahead of of runner-up Eizhana Taniyeva (128.35) of Kazakhstan and bronze medalist Wang Zilu (121.80) in the tournament sanctioned by the Asian Gymnastics Union and organized by the Gymnastics Association of the Philippines.
Filipina Breanna Labadan, the host country’s lone qualifier, tallied 110.40 points in placing ninth in competition to formally qualify to the 40th FIG Rhythmic Gymnastics World Championships from Aug. 23 to 27 in Valencia, Spain. Based in Hungary and coached by former Hungarian national athlete Dora Vass, Labadan placed 13th in the same event last year in the Asian edition of the meet held in Pattaya, Thailand. Earlier, Ikromova, Yosmina Rakhimova and Evelina Atalyants led Uzbekistan to the gold in the team event with a score of 327.75 points, with Kazakhstan (305.60) and China (304.05) taking the silver and bronze, respectively.
