| Last updated at: (Beijing Time) Saturday, November 17, 2001 |
Veteran Gymnasts Outshine New Star at National Games |
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Veteran gymnastsdominated the men's individual all-round finals at China's Ninth National Games here Friday, with the Sydney Olympic champion Yang Wei claiming the title with a combined mark of 57.812 points.
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Veteran gymnastsdominated the men's individual all-round finals at China's Ninth National Games here Friday, with the Sydney Olympic champion Yang Wei claiming the title with a combined mark of 57.812 points.
The country's rising star Feng Jing, newly-crowned individual all-round champion at the World Gymnastics Championships early this month in Ghent, Belgium, finished fourth with a total score of 56.349.
Feng, 16 years old, collected his highest mark in the pommel horse with 9.625 points and lowest in the vault with 9.150 points at the top-level men's all-round contests in the Guangzhou Stadium.
Yang Wei representing China's gymnastics powerhouse Hubei province, was followed by world championship veterans Lu Yufu of the host Guangdong team and Huang Xu from Jiangsu. Both claimed titles in men's team events either at the world championships or the Sydney Olympics.
Hunag Yubin, head coach of China's national gymnastic team, regarded the Friday final as "of the world class," saying "every competitor was is in his best form." Of the 12 gymnasts competing for the title Friday evening, nine claimed one or more world championship titles.
Feng, in his international debut in Belgium, shocked the world gym community in Ghent by his surprise winning of the men's all-round title. But then and there he confessed he would "definitely have no chance to win at the National Games.
Surrounded by fans asking for his signature after the contest, the teenager gymnast told Xinhua he was "not bad" in his routines,but he was not satisfied with his performance on the vault, when he failed a stable landing.
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