DOHA: The opening day of women’s qualification round at 48th edition of Artistic Gymnastics World Championships Doha 2018 yesterday drew the biggest crowd of the competition so far and Qatar’s Jana Elkeky did not let the home spectators down.
The young Qatari gymnast, making her World Championships debut, was impressive on the Floor Exercise showing strong nerves as she competed against global stars including the quadruple Olympic champion Simone Biles.
Elkeky’s twisting routine. 2.5, beautiful full turn, 1.5, double and just under rotates her last pass earned her a massive applause from fans at Aspire Dome. She ended the floor exercise qualification with 8.633 points, with Biles topping it with 8.633 points. In Balance Beam she earned a respectable score of 8.800.
Elkeky said the performance was not her best show but said she was taking a lot of positives from her exposure in the mega event.
“It was not my best performance because of injuries to my both ankles, but I am still satisfied with what I achieved,” the Qatari gymnast said.
“I felt a little bit stressed at the start due to the big support and the fact that it is the World Championships. It was a completely different atmosphere from what I saw before during the World Cups and Asian Games, but the cheering helped me to give my best,” she added.
Elkeky was Qatar’s only female gymnast in the competition as hosts Qatar fielded three athletes including Ahmed Al Dayani and Ahmed Nabil.
On Thursday, the opening day of the event, Al Dayani posted a score of 72.632 while Nabil scored 59.966 in Men’s All-Around qualification which saw several big names in action. However, both the Qatari gymnasts were happy with their overall performance hoping that the experience will benefit them in the future.
