November 26, 2002	Tuesday	Ramazan 20, 1423

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DEBRECEN (Hungary), Nov 25: Olympic champion Li Xiaopeng emphasised his superiority over the rest of the men’s field to walk away with two gold medals at the world gymnastics championships Sunday.

While Li easily outshone his nearest rivals to grab the top prize in both the vault and parallel bars, Russian diva Svetlana Khorkina failed in her bid to win the beam title with a scrappy display of her balancing skills.

Li, having claimed gold on the vault an hour earlier with an aggressive 2-1/2 twisted front somersault, executed a dynamic swinging routine on the bars.

Incorporating a number of impressive handstands, the 21-year-old edged out Slovenia’s Mitja Petkovsek by just 0.025 of a point.

A product of the famed Hunan Gymnastics School, Li went into the parallel bars final as the overwhelming favourite following his triumph on the apparatus in Sydney two years ago.

Backed by a boisterous Chinese contingent, a steely eyed Li mounted the bars and put in a near flawless performance.

Having completed his display with a solid dismount, he cracked a broad grin and punched his fists towards a sea of red and gold Chinese flags fluttering at one end of the Fonix Hall.

Russia’s Khorkina, who suffered her first asymmetric bars defeat at a major event for eight years on Saturday after falling off twice, was hoping to redeem herself on the beam.

Although she did not fall off the apparatus, unlike in the first round of qualification, she struggled to keep her balance on several occasions to ruin her chances.

With her contenders failing to execute their programmes cleanly, an ecstatic Ashley Postell became the surprise winner of the beam.

Postell’s winning score of 9.537 gave the Americans their second title at Debrecen after Courtney Kupets scored a shock victory on the asymmetric bars Saturday.

Russian favourite Lioudmila Eyova’s campaign ended abruptly when she fell off attempting a flick into a handstand and she finished sixth.

Elena Gomez became the first Spanish woman to win a world championship gold with an energetic floor exercise to rock and roll music. Gomez got the crowd going with her triple twisted tumbling combinations.

The 17-year-old’s exhibition earned her a winning mark of 9.487.

Greek student Vlasios Maras confirmed his status as master of the horizontal bar by retaining his title.

Showing his class, the 29-year-old performed a daring front somersault over the bar, which included a twist during the re-catch to claim the gold.

Popular Belarussian Ivan Ivankov finally made it to the medals podium to claim joint silver with Slovenia’s Aljaz Pegan.

Korean Yang Tae Seok and Israel’s Runar Alexandersson both suffered painful endings to their championships.

Yang suffered a dreadful fall when his chin hit the horizontal bar while attempting a full twisting somersault release and catch move.

He crashed to the mat flat on his back to the horror of the packed crowd. Barely able to regain his balance on standing, he was unable to complete his routine and hobbled out of the arena.

But Alexandersson drew the biggest cheer of the day despite finishing last on the parallel bars. He suffered a spectacular fall and appeared to have dislocated his index finger.—Reuters