Chinese athletes made an overwhelming sweep on the last day of the
Asian Games gymnastic competition as they claimed all the titles,
with six golds from five events.
Chinese senior gymnast Li Xiaopeng opened the gold account for
China today as he put on a brilliant performance to claim the men's
vault title.
In
a final without much suspense, Olympic team winner Li came best as
he scored 9.737, and his compatriot Yang Wei, almost kneeling down
on his knees in his second attempt, was the runner-up on 9.675.
The newly crowned team champion who was the second to compete,
showed his well-preserved power after three days of rest. His
beautifully finished flips and swirls in air won him the highest
points.
Whereas the 17-year-old Kim Seung-il, who unexpectedly triumphed in
the floor exercise a day earlier, failed to bring one more sweet
surprise to the South Koreans as he scored 9.250 in his routine
with a starting value of 9.700.
The parallel bars also saw Chinese dominance as Li and Huang Xu,
reigning Asian champion on rings, tied at 9.800 to earn China two
golds at a time.
"I
am very happy with the result. My strongest rival is Xiaopeng and
we came out together as champions," said Huang after the
contest.
"I
have expected the result, as I have the power to snatch the gold on
the parallel bars," he added.
The fight for men's parallel bars was fierce and dramatic when
three champions respectively from China, Japan and South Korea were
seen standing on the highest position of the podium.
Tomita Hiroyuki from Japan, Yang Tae-seok of South Korea and
Chinese Teng Haibin weirdly finished the score 9.800.
Double Asiad title winner Teng got to know his shared victory just
before the awarding ceremony as the score board had previously
indicated his third position on 9.775.
"I
got to know my score was raised to 9.800 not long before the
awarding ceremony," said the shy 17-year-old.
Chinese women gymnasts were just as brilliant as their men
counterparts as they chalked up both titles on offer.
Beijing teenager Kang Xin, 16, scored 9.300 with a starting value
of 9.700 to pocket her second gold, China's 12th in the five-day
gymnastics tournament starting on Tuesday.
Exquisite Kang, an all-arounder, attracted cheering from the
audience after stringing masterful routines on the beam, her
strongest apparatus and the only individual one she
participated.
Zhang Nan was the last to wrap up the Chinese gold hunt for a total
of 13 today when she split the floor exercise title with veteran
Oksana Chusovitina of Uzbekistan.
This is the fourth gold for the baby-faced teenager, who became the
most versatile gymnast in the Asiad.
( October 6, 2002)