0
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
11. Switzerland 213.982, 12. Canada 213.244, 13. Germany 211.269, 14. Spain 210.635, 15. Australia 210.207, 16. Hungary 208.283, 17. Great Britain 208.085, 18. Bulgaria 206.571, 19. Finland 205.482, 20. Slovakia 202.883
21. Portugal 202.858, 22. Greece 202.371, 23. Brazil 201.373, 24. Czech Republic 201.096, 25. Slovenia 199.945, 26. Argentina 199.922, 27. Mexico 199.334, 28. Chinese Taipei 199.260, 29. Netherlands 198.820, 30. Belgium 196.645
31. Kazakhstan 196.297, 32. Austria 195.361, 33. Armenia 195.099, 34. South Africa 194.510, 35. Egypt 193.384, 36. Denmark 193.034, 37. India 185.511, 38. Sri Lanka 150.549, 39. Turkey 150.248, 40. Malaysia 148.412
Individual
1. Ivan Ivankov (Blr) 56.486 pts, 2. Eric Lopez (Cub) 55.874, 3. Sean Towsend (USA) 55.574, 4. Paul Hamm (USA) 55.561, 5. Yang Tae-Young (Kor) 55.561, 6. Jordan Jovtchev (Bul) 55.299, 7. Kim Dong-Hwa (Kor) 55.285, 8. Alexei Bondarenko (Rus) 55.074, 9. Feng Jing (Chn) 55.061, 10. Stephen McCain (USA) 54.949
11. Marian Dragulescu (Rom) 54.573, 12. Pavel Gofman (Isr) 54.235, 13. Yevgeny Sapronenko (Rus) 53.999, 14. Dan Potra (Rom) 53.998, 15. Abel Drigg (Cub) 53.950, 16. Yernar Yerimbetov (Kaz) 53.936, 17. Victor Cano (Spa) 53.911, 18. Florent Maree (Fra) 53.862, 19. Johan Mounard (Fra) 53.861, 20. Leon Tamayo (Cub) 53.836
21. Raj Bhavsar (USA) 53.836, 22. Alexander Kruzhylau (Blr) 53.835, 23. Andrei Mikailichenko (Ukr) 53.761, 24. Roman Zozulia (Ukr) 53.611, 25. Igor Cassina (Ita) 53.548, 26. Liu Jinyu (Chn) 53.449, 27. Grant Golding (Can) 53.448, 28. Ioan Suciu (Rom) 53.274, 29. Roman Schweizer (Swi) 53.173, 30. Dominik Dappen (Swi) 53.161
31. Sven Kwiatkowski (Ger) 53.161, 32. Matteo Morandi (Ita) 53.148, 33. Erik Revelinsh (Lat) 53.023, 34. Stephan Zapf (Ger) 53.010, 35. Christophe Scharrer (Swi) 52.899
Selected
38. Damian Istria (Aus) 52.886, 41. David Kikuchi (Can) 52.812, 43. Yevgeny Krylov (Rus) 52.749, 45. Philippe Rizzo (Aus) 52.586, 47. Li Ronjie (Chn) 52.511, 52. Richard Ikeda (Can) 52.074, 53. Kanukai Jackson (Gbr) 51.699, 55. Deng Weiwei (Chn) 51.649, 77. Cheng Feng Yi (Tpe) 50.025
Top eight teams and 32 individuals advance.—AFP
