Qiu Qiyuan leads China to double-gold at Asian Artistic Gymnastics Championships
China’s Qiu Qiyuan is hoping her double-gold performance at the Asian Championships will lead to her making the China team for the 2024 Olympics in Paris. PHOTO CREDIT: Linee Yeo
SINGAPORE, 16 JUNE 2023 – China’s Qiu Qiyuan turned in a stellar performance to win thewomen’s individual all-around title as well as lead her team to the women’s team gold at the Asian Artistic Gymnastics Championships.
The 16-year-old Fujian native was in dominant form as she registered a combined score of 54.932 points, including the day’s highest score of 15.233 on the uneven bars. Her score put her ahead of teammate Zhang Qingying (53.965) and South Korea’s Shin Solyi (53.499).
Qiu and Zhang’s performance rubbed off on teammates Chen Xinyi, Jia Ruoyi, Zhang Xinyi and Zuo Tong as China’s commanding 163.529 total set them apart from second-placed South Korea (160.095)and Chinese Taipei (147.397) as they retained their 2022 Asian crown.
China retained their 2022 Asian team crown with a commanding performance, well ahead of second-placed South Korea and third-placed Chinese Taipei.PHOTO CREDIT: Freddy Chew
With Japan opting to give this event a miss and the Chinese resting their usual first-choice gymnasts, the stage was set for up-and-coming gymnasts like Qiu to rise to the occasion. She said: “It’s my goal to be on a bigger stage, such as the World Championships and the Olympics and this win puts me on the path to getting there.“My ultimate goal is the Olympics.”
With the Asian Gymnastics Championships serving as a qualifier for September’s WorldChampionships — where Olympic slots will be up for grabs — all eyes were also on which teams would earn their slots to the Belgium World Championships.
With Japan and China already qualified, it meant there were only two slots available and it went to South Korea and Chinese Taipei.
Joy for hosts Singapore as two qualify for World Championships
Hosts Singapore had plenty of reasons to celebrate as two gymnasts qualified for the World Championships by virtue of their strong all-around performance.
Nadine Joy Nathan, 23, and Emma Yap, 18, put in their best showing of the year to finish 12th and 16th respectively out of 57 gymnasts.
Nathan recorded a season-best 48.832 all-around score to earn a fourth appearance at the World Championships.
For Yap, a new personal best of 47.499 was just enough to send her to her first World Championships.
“It was the first time I have crossed the 47 mark and I’m really happy,” said Yap.
“I just came into the Asian Championships hoping to do a personal best so qualifying for the Worlds is really a bonus.”
Fellow Southeast Asians Aleah Finnegan and Kylee Kvamme of the Philippines and Rifda Irfanaluthfiof Indonesia also earned tickets to the World Championships.
Emma Yap (left) and Nadine Joy Nathan gave local fans something to cheer about as both put in strong individual all-around scores to qualify for September’s World Championships. PHOTO CREDIT: Linee Yeo and Daniel Chua
The Asian Championships continues tomorrow with the first half of the individual apparatus finals.
Members of the public can purchase their tickets for the senior championships at https://ticketmaster.sg/activity/detail/23_aagc2023. Tickets for a day pass start at $20. The event will also be streamed live on all competition days and can be found at https://asianchampionships.elevatebroadcast.com/index.php.
Results for Friday, June 16 Senior Women’sTeam Finals
| Medal | Names | Country | Score |
| Gold | Chen Xinyi Jia Ruoyi Qiu Qiyuan
Zhang Qingying Zhang Xinyi Zuo Tong |
China | 163.529 |
| Silver | Eom Dohyun Lee Yunseo Lee Dayeong Lim Sumin Shin Solyi Yeo Seojeong | South Korea | 160.095 |
| Bronze | Huang Tzu-Hsing Lai Pin-Ju
Liao Yi-Chun Lin Yi-Chen Ting Hua-Tien Wu Sing-Fen |
Chinese Taipei | 147.397 |
Senior Women’s Individual All-Around Finals
| Medal | Name | Country | Score |
| Gold | Qiu Qiyuan | China | 54.932 |
| Silver | Zhang Qingying | China | 53.965 |
| Bronze | Shin Solyi | South Korea | 53.499 |
Asian Artistic Gymnastic Championships 10th Senior WAGIAA and Team Full Results 16 June 2023
https://results.scoreexpress.be/#/competition/SGPAGACSWAG23/category/2f1ec5b4ac98f99f4076e6335f0d210a/ranking/QUAL/OPEN
