Home » Sports » Gymnastics
Yao, Liu strike gold for China
Print Edition
YAO Jinnan and Liu Yang upset the established order as they claimed gold for host China with their maiden individual titles at the world gymnastics championships in Nanning yesterday.
Yao, 19, pipped defending champion and compatriot Huang Huidan by a razor-thin 0.067 points in the women’s uneven bars for her first world crown, which follows her four-gold rampage at the Asian Games last month.
And Liu, 20, stunned Olympic and world champion Arthur Nabarrete Zanetti of Brazil on the men’s rings in a show of strength that lifted him from last year’s fourth place.
Yao, sixth on the uneven bars last year, outdid Huang in qualifying and she carried her momentum into the eight-way final at the Guangxi Gymnasium.
Yao has changed her given name this year to Ziyi because Jinnan phonetically sounds similar to words meaning “hard to get gold.”
She will start using the new name in competition next year but the change has paid off with her successful defence of the national title in May and her Asiad one-woman show in South Korea.
As the last performer, Yao dazzled with high-level pirouetting and aerial skills and finished with a lofty double layout somersault. She earned 15.633 points with Huang at 15.566. Russian Daria Spiridonova came in third at 15.283.
Liu, who contributed to China’s men’s team victory over Japan with a top rings score, outdid the 24-year-old Zanetti in both difficulty and execution.
Displaying solid strength moves and clockwork swings, Liu collected 15.933 points against Zanetti’s 15.733. Another Chinese competitor, You Hao, tied for third spot with Russia’s Denis Abliazin.
- About Us
- |
- Terms of Use
- |
-
RSS - |
- Privacy Policy
- |
- Contact Us
- |
- Shanghai Call Center: 962288
- |
- Tip-off hotline: 52920043
- 沪ICP证：沪ICP备05050403号-1
- |
- 互联网新闻信息服务许可证：31120180004
- |
- 网络视听许可证：0909346
- |
- 广播电视节目制作许可证：沪字第354号
- |
- 增值电信业务经营许可证：沪B2-20120012
Copyright © 1999- Shanghai Daily. All rights reserved.Preferably viewed with Internet Explorer 8 or newer browsers.
