Sheikh Saoud bin Abdulrahman Al Thani (right), Secretary General of Qatar Olympic Committee, (QOC) and Ali Al Hitmi, Qatar Gymnastics Federation (QGF) President, pose for a group picture with gold winner Muntean Andrei Vasile (centre) from Romania, silver medallist Kim Jin Hyok (left) from Korea and Liao Qiuhua from China after the parallel bars competition on the final day of the 6th FIG World Challenge Cup at Aspire Academy in Doha yesterday. RIGHT: Romania’s Diana Bulimar, (centre) is seen with compatriot Larisa Andreea (left) and China’s Siqi Zeng on the podium after the women’s floor exercises routine. PICTURES: Kammutty VP
BY AZMAT HAROON
Doha: Romanian gymnasts soared high last evening, winning three gold medals on the final day of the 6th FIG Artistic Gymnastics World Challenge Cup.
Diana Bulimar from Romania won the crowd with a top-notch routine on women’s floor finals, edging out her fellow citizen chief rival Larisa Andreea with a tally of 14.625.
Andreea, a bronze medallist at London Olympic last year, picked up a gold medal in women’s beam final (15.500), in addition to a silver medal on floor (14.425).
China’s Siqi Zeng, meanwhile, won a silver medal on beam (15.150) and a bronze medal on floor with a score of 14.050.
Britain’s Gabrielle Jupp bagged a bronze medal on beam with a tally of 14.450.
In the men’s parallel bars final, Muntean Andrei Vasile of Romania won gold with a score of 15.325, while Kim Jun Hyok from North Korea and Liao Qiuhua from China won silver and bronze medals respectively.
After winning hearts of spectators in Doha, the Romanian gymnasts are aiming to top the 2013 European Championships, which are set to begin in Moscow in two weeks.
“We will continue to do our best. Our goal now is to win the Europeans and then the World Championships,” 17-year-old Bulimar said, adding that she aims to upgrade her routine for the upcoming tournaments.
Speaking about Bulimar’s win, Andreea said that the best gymnasts always win. The duo has been training together for five years now.
In the men’s vault finals, North Korea’s Ri Se Gwang picked up the gold with a score of 15.137 while Vietnam’s Le Thanh Phuong and Armenia’s Artur Davtyan won silver and bronze respectively.
Croatia’s Marijo Moznik won gold in men’s horizontal bars producing a tally of 14.925. Netherlands’s Jeffrey Wammes (14.875) bagged a silver medal, while Switzerland’s Oliver Hegi won the bronze medal on the same apparatus.
Hegi said that competing in Qatar gave gymnasts an idea about what others had achieved.
“You compete with the best gymnasts of the world (in Qatar). You also get to see what other gymnasts have learned in the past few months and what you have to do in order to perform better,” Hegi said.
Dutch gymnast Wammes, who was competing here for the third time, said that gymnasts prefer coming back to Qatar.
“People gladly come back to Qatar because you feel very welcome here,” he said.
Wammes fell during one of his routines on Thursday but said that incident made him want to train harder.
“Yesterday I had a great routine but I fell otherwise I would have won a medal. Such incidents can make gymnasts lose confidence but it made me more eager to get it right next time and to train harder,” Wammes said. “A fall can be like a wake-up call for gymnasts,” Wammes added.
A huge fan turnout was witnessed yesterday at Aspire Academy where gymnasts from 37 countries regaled fans with their performances over three days. THE PENINSULA
