Cheng Fei became the most successful woman gymnast in China to wrap up the final day with an acrobatic floor routine, which gave her a third title at the Aarhus gymnastics world championships in Denmark on Saturday.

 

She failed to make the all-around final but defended her vault crown and helped China win their first women's team title at the expense of defending champions the United States.

 

She scored 15.875 to push all-around silver medalist Jana Bieger of 15.550 points to second place.

 

World all-around champion Vanessa Ferrari, 15, took her second bronze after finishing third on the uneven bars Friday to propel Italy to the fourth place in medals table.

 

China topped the medals with eight golds ahead of Romania who won four medals - two golds, a silver and a bronze.

 

The United States had their worst gymnastic worlds since Tianjin 1999 as they went home without a title.

 

"The triple gold finally came in this way and now I need to start new from a high position toward the coming challenge in Stuttgart in 2007 and Beijing 2008. I think it's possible for me to take up the all-around for I have something strong on vault and floor. If I can catch up a little on beam, I think I am able to knock the all-around in big events," said the 18-year-old Cheng.

 

 

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(Xinhua News Agency October 22, 2006)