GHENT (Belgium), Oct 29: Belarus and the United States set the stage for a gold medal showdown in men’s gymnastics after leading qualifiers for team and individual medals here on Monday.
Belarus, anchored by two-time world champion Ivan Ivankov, edged the United States as top qualifiers for Wednesday’s team finals with 222.132 points to the USA’s 221.420 with South Korea a surprise third with 220.857.
Russia survivied an unprecedented opening round exit when their injury-depleted team grabbed the final eighth qualifying spot with 217.384.
Also advancing are Ukraine, France, Romania and China.
Russia, runners-up in 1999, have never finished lower than fourth in almost half a century competing in both world and Olympic finals.
The Chinese look set to miss a podium spot for the first time in a decade with their team of novices unlikely to capture a fifth straight title after qualifying seventh on 218.296.
China are competing with an inexperienced team after the five-time world and Olympic champions’ top gymnasts stayed at home to prepare for the national championships next month.
The highbar was a disaster for the reigning champions with Li Rongjie, Feng Jing and Zhang Shangwu falling.
The Russians had the experience but suffered a string of injuries.
Yevgeny Podgomy injured an elbow injury in training and Yevgeny Krylov competed despite a foot ailment.
Defending world champion Nikolai Krukov and Olympic champion Alexei Nemov both fell off the parallel bars.
While Krukov also qualifies for the pommel horse, Nemov failed to qualify for any individual apparatus with his highest placing 14th on the vault.
Monday’s results:
Men’s qualification
Team:
1. Belarus 222.132, 2. United States 221.420, 3. South Korea 220.857, 4. Romania 219.768, 5. Ukraine 218.757, 6. France 218.593, 7. China 218.296, 8. Russia 217.384, 9. Italy 216.043, 10. Latvia 215.030