SHANGHAI, June 15: China’s top gymnastics official has warned that rules removing difficulty limits on routines could lead to more serious accidents, after a Chinese athlete broke her neck during a dismount.

Wang Yan, 15, fell on her head on Sunday during a botched dismount from the uneven parallel bars at the national championships where gymnasts were being urged to try tough new routines in preparation for the Beijing Olympics.

Gao Jian, Director of the China Gymnastics Administrative Centre, said the rules from the sport’s world governing body would inevitably lead to similar accidents, the China Daily newspaper reported on Friday.

“The rule to allow non-limited difficulty will lead to an increasing number of injuries and also there will be fewer children taking part in the sport,” Gao was quoted as saying. “Actually there are many countries including Russia and the US that are against the rule.”

Gao appeared to be referring to revised rules from the Federation of International Gymnastics, which have abandoned the traditional maximum score of 10 for an open-ended scale.

Critics have reportedly said the rules, introduced last year ahead of next year’s Olympics, have led to gymnasts attempting more and more difficult routines.

Gao said Wang, who briefly fell into a coma, was now “stable and making progress with her injury,” although it was still unclear whether she would be paralysed.—AFP