Russian gymnasts shine on opening day at Aspire Dome

DOHA: Seeking an end to their medal drought in the prestigious competition, Team Russia yesterday got off to a flying start as the 48th edition of Artistic Gymnastics World Championships Doha 2018 kicked off at the Aspire Dome.

On the first day of qualification round for men’s events which offer eight titles, Russian gymnasts hogged the limelight by dominating Team qualification round, and were also impressive in the individual events.

Qatari gymnasts Ahmed Al Dayani and Mosa Ahmed also received applause for their commendable performances by a good number of fans at Doha’s iconic venue last night.       

Russian men, who last won a team medal at the World Artistic Gymnastics Championships back in 2006, were leading the event after a consistent performance.

After the opening day, they have a lead of over 13 points over the Netherlands after marking 258.402, with the Dutchmen finishing the qualification on 245.663 points. Switzerland (245.186) and Ukraine (243.651) occupy the next positions respectively in Team qualification.    

Meanwhile, Russia’s Nagornyy Nikita ended the opening day as leader in Men’s All-Round event after accumulating 87.098, followed by compatriots Dalaloyan Artur (84.572) and Belyavskiy David (83.332).

But the Rio Olympic medalist Nikita was not fully convinced with overall performance despite a successful day for Russia.

“On the pommel horse, we made a few mistakes but they were silly mistakes. Pommel horse is an event where we should be getting a lot of points,” he said.

However, his team-mate Nikolai Kuksenkov was happy with the start.

“The team did good. We started very good on vault, parallel bars, as well. We have two finalists, Artur and David (Belyavskiy), so the competition was very good,” he said.

Four-time European champion Dalaloyan Artur, who also played a key role for Russia yesterday, topped the opening day’s Men’s Floor with 14.833 points followed by Nikita (14.800) and Yulo Carlos Edriel (14.766) of the Philippines.

Dutchman Zonderland Epke, the 2012 London Olympic gold medalist lived up to his top billing by leading the Men’s Horizontal Bar after collecting 14.400 points. Croatia’s Srbic Tin (14.300) and Artur (14.166) finished on the following positions respectively.     

“I hoped to score a little bit better. For the team I think it’s a great score. For the final I don’t know if it’s enough,” Zonderland said after topping in the qualification on opening day.  

“I think it should be but I’m not confident yet. We’ll have to see what the other guys will do. It might be enough but there are so many guys who also able to score this,” he said.

Kazakhstan’s Kurbanov Nariman (14.466) was leading in the Men’s Pommel Horse while Ukraine’s Radivilov Igor (14.733) scored the maximum points in Men’s Rings qualification yesterday.

North Korea’s Ri Se Gwang (14.966) marked the highest score in Men’s Vault while Ukraine’s Verniaiev Oleg (15.458) was ahead in Men’s Parallel Bars.