Men’s Artistic Gymnastics
Qualification
SINGAPORE (SIN), FIG Office, August 16, 2010: Two days after the official opening of the inaugural Youth Olympic Games here in Singapore (SIN), the boys’ Qualification round opened the Artistic Gymnastics events at Bishan Sports Hall this afternoon.
Due to the withdrawal of Colombia’s Jhonny Munoz, who injured his shoulder during training on Rings this past Saturday, the universal field was left with 41 competitors representing as many countries from all continents. Split into two subdivisions, the gymnasts went through all six rotations, hailed by the many enthusiastic spectators who have come to Bishan to get a first glance of Youth Olympic gymnastic action.
And they weren’t disappointed!
The first subdivision featured some of the anticipated favourites from gymnastic power houses Japan, China, Russia, Romania and the United States of America.
Yuya Kamoto (JPN) led the All-around standings after this first heat with a total of 87.200 points, followed by China’s Zhu Xiaodong (86.100) and Russian Daniil Kazachkov (85.400). The trio headed the field early on, and while Zhu and Daniil battled it out on Horizontal Bar in the last rotation, Yuya competed last on Floor, providing excitement to the end. He impressed with consistency and clean execution of his routines, setting the bar high for the competitors of the second subdivision.
In Individual apparatus, Spaniard Nestor Abad was an eye catcher, taking his place among the top three on Floor, Vault and Horizontal Bar. Nestor did well overall until he fell off the Pommel Horse twice in the last rotation; unfortunate. As a consequence, he dropped in the All-around ranking and failed to make the cut. Nevertheless, he secured spots in the mentioned Apparatus Finals and on Rings.
Romania’s Andrei Muntean topped subdivision 1 on Rings and Mongolian Erdenebold Ganbat as well as Weena Chokpaoumpai of Thailand impressed fans on Vault, where they ranked a provisional two and three respectively.
Lithuania’s Robert Tvorogal wowed spectators on Horizontal Bar, where he took the lead with a score of 14.150. Interestingly, Robert is the youngest male Artistic gymnast competing here in Singapore (born October 5, 1994), while Weena is the oldest (born January 1, 1993).
The second subdivision lined up a number of gymnasts who ranked among the top eight qualifiers at their respective Continental Championships: Ernesto Vila Sarria (CUB), Robert Watson (CAN), Ryan Ratterson (RSA), Sam Oldham (GBR) and Thomas Neuteleers (BEL). Sam is currently the reigning Junior European Champion and has high expectations for these Games. The locals gave special support to Singapore’s Timothy Tay.
And what about Oleg Stepko? The young Ukrainian was unable to participate in the qualifying Junior European Championships in Birmingham (GBR) due to the volcanic ash cloud over Europe, but he was attributed one of the universality places for Singapore.
Sam and Oleg quickly proved their excellence with clean and fascinating routines all throughout; they placed second and third behind Yuya Kamoto (JPN) in the All-around Qualification. Sam scored an overall 86.850 and Oleg followed closely with 86.800 points. Zhu and Daniil were pushed down to fourth and fifth rank. Andrei (ROU) was tied by Ernesto (CUB) with a 83.800 point score as both tried to maintain a lifeline to the top. Robert from Canada became the public’s darling and secured his spot for the Finals in a comfortable eleventh place. Of the remaining qualifiers, most of which are European, Eduard Shaulov of Uzbekistan and Amr Ahmed of Egypt stand out. Amr, the 2010 African Junior All-around Champion qualified in last position.
Oleg simply shone when he performed the most difficult routine on Pommel Horse tonight; flawlessly executed. He leads the field to the Apparatus Final. Although he prefers Pommel Horse, Mexican Javier Cervantes was most convincing on Vault, performing two solid routines that placed him second behind Nestor (ESP). Thomas Neuteleers qualified in 8th position for the All-around and secured spots for the Floor and Parallel Bars Finals. On Horizontal Bar, Robert from Lithuania was outscored only by Great Britain’s Sam in the second subdivision, while Brody-Jai Hennessy secured Australia’s participation in the Final, placing 8th.
Check the detailed results here and watch the boys as they continue their competitions in Wednesday’s All-around Final and the Apparatus Finals on August 21 and 22.
Gymnastics events continue tomorrow at Bishan Sports Hall with the Artistic girls’ Qualification.
Stay tuned!
