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Sports / China
China's Xiao and Cheng win third straight world titles
(Xinhua)
Updated: 2007-09-09 09:27
STUTTGART - China's Xiao Qin and Cheng Fei each won a third straight
world title to highlight China's ecstasy of claiming three gold medals on
Saturday at the Stuttgart Championships.
Xiao Qin of China?shows his gold medal after winning the men`s pommel
horse final at the 40th World Artistic Gymnastics Championships in
Stuttgart September 8, 2007.[Xinhua]?
Xiao, 22, won men's pommel horse while Cheng beat Hong Su Jong from DPR
Korea to retain her vault title which she held for a third year in a row.
Cheng Yibin later added a third gold of the day, and a fifth overall, for
China by defending men's rings titles.
Brazilian Diego Hypolito and Russian rookie Ksenia Semenova split the
remaining two titles on Saturday with Hypolito winning men's floor and
Smenova striking gold on uneven bars.
"I felt intense pressure from opponents although I won with relatively
big edge, which was a very different feeling compared to the last two
years," Xiao said.
"In 2005 and 2006, I won with quite confidence. But this time, I didn't
know I could win after finishing my routine.
"The Olympics is coming and everyone is working hard, particularly on the
difficulty. So am I."
The pommel horse king scored 16.300 points for a spectacular layout with
a A score of 6.6, highest of the field, beating Krisztian Berki of
Hungary by an amazing 0.600.
British Louis Smith, 18, took the bronze in 15.600.
China's Yang Wei, who became the second gymnast to win back-to-back men's
all-around world titles on Friday, just missed a podium finish and ended
up fourth in 15.475.
With both vaulting's difficulty reaching 6.5, Cheng scored an average of
15.937 points for the title, beating Hong by 0.125. Alicia Sacramone of
the United States took bronze in 15.412.
The 32-year-old Okssana Chusovitina, representing Germany since last
year, landed on her knees after the first attempt and ended up sixth.
Men's rings final saw an intense multi-way competition between top
gymnasts, in which seven of the eight scored over 16.000.
Chen, last year's gold medalist, showed his strength on rings and
received a highest 16.700 of the day, beating Yuri van Gelder of the
Netherlands by 0.075 points.
The 2005 world champion Gelder took silver and the bronze medal went to
Bulgarian veteran Jordan Jovtchev who scored 16.575.
On the men's floor, the withdrawal of reigning champion Marian Dragulescu
of Romania due to injury left the door wide open for competition.
Hypolito's stable and solid performance earned him the highest score of
16.150 points as no one got through the routine without mistakes.
Gervasio Deferr of Spain collected 15.950 for the silver and the bronze
medal went to Japanese Hisashi Mizutori in 15.650.
China's youngster Zou Kai, who led the qualification, was a surprise
sixth after staggering in his routine.
American star Anastasia Liukin still lacked a bit luck as she was only
0.050 points behind Semenova to take silver on uneven bars.
The 15-year-old Russian wooed judges with the highest difficulty of 7.2
and sky high flips, receiving 16.350 for the title.
The bronze medal went to China's newcomer Yang Yilin in 16.150, and
defending champion Elizabeth Tweddle of Britain was fourth in 16.125.
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