Qatari gymnast Jana Elkeky in action during the second day of 10th FIG Artistic World Cup at the Aspire Dome yesterday.
Romania's triple Olympic gold medallist Catalina Ponor along with rising Chinese stars Zou Jingyuan and Liu Tingting grabbed second day’s honours at the 10th FIG Artistic World Cup with sparkling performances at the Aspire Dome.
The day marked the end of qualification rounds with the finals, spread over two days, getting under way today.
Ponor, 29, who won three gold medals in 2004 Olympics, sailed into the final of women’s balance beam after accumulating 13.766 points.
However, she was surpassed by teenager Tingting who displayed an impressive performance in the qualification round.
The 16-year old Chinese topped the round with 13.933 points while Australia’s Emily Little secured third position with a total 13.233 points.
Huan Luo (China) Emma Nedov (Australia), Uctas Sanli (Turkey), Zsofia Kovacs (Hungary) and Ana Derik (Croatia) also qualified for the final.
Earlier, Jingyuan who won silver medal in the Melbourne leg of the contest last month continued his fine form to finish the men’s parallel bars qualification on top with a sizzling show that secured him a huge tally 16.166 points.
Pablo Braegger of Switzerland finished second with 15.033 points. Arican Ferhat claimed third spot after securing 14.933 points on a day in which he also qualified for the final of men’s vault event. The 24-year-old Turkish sensation also qualified for the finals of two events – floor exercise and pommel horse on the opening day of the event on Wednesday.
Meanwhile, Marcel Nguyen (Germany), Tomas Dinh (Lithuania), Phuong Thanh (Vietnam) and Davtyan Artur (Armenia) also qualified for the final of men’s parallel event.
In the men’s vault qualification, Vietnam’s national champion Le Thanh Tung reigned supreme after collecting a total of 14.750 points followed by Armenia’s Davtyan Artur who got 14.716 points. Australia’s Christopher Remkes came in third position with a tally of 14.416 points.
Romania’s Marian Dragulescu, Ferhat, Stephens Clay (Australia), Heikki Saarenketo Heikki (Finland) and Felix Remuta (Germany) also qualified for the final.
A total of five titles will be decided today with the men competing in floor exercise, pommel horse and rings finals. The female athletes will compete for gold medals in vault and uneven bars.
Stars who will be seen in action in the finals today include Hungary's 2012 London Olympics gold medallist Krisztian Berki and Rio Games bronze medallist Yan Wang of China along with Uzbek veteran Oksana Chusovitina and Little.
Chusovitina, 41 was hoping to do well in the women’s vault final today.
“It’s going to be a tough competition but I will do my best to earn a good position,” the veteran Uzbek told reporters after qualifying for the final of women’s vault yesterday.
