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Last updated at: (Beijing Time) Sunday, November 18, 2001

Chinese Gymnastics Stress Fundamentals Despite New Rules

China will not blindly go with the trend set by the new scoring system to have more difficult routines, Chinese gymnastics officials said Sunday in Guangzhou.


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China will not blindly go with the trend set by the new scoring system to have more difficult routines, Chinese gymnastics officials said Sunday in Guangzhou.

The new Code of Points introduced last January by the International Gymnastics Federation (FIG) for the next eight yearshas put a premium on routines' degree of difficulty, making the pixy's sport more like acrobatics. While working out ways to help its senior gymnasts adapt to thenew rules, China persist on priority to basic skills in training young talents.

"We will not be distracted and we will focus on the fundamentals of the gymnastics to groom the kids, "said Liao Zhongyi, an official with the Chinese Gymnastics Association.

"As long as a solid foundation is laid, gymnasts will have no trouble in learning new tricks," Liao said. He expressed concern that the new Code of Point might lead somecoaches to adopting more difficult routines for kids, instead of focusing basic skills in training.

"There might be a trend to make the sport more difficult. So after the current ninth national games here, the Chinese association will issue a special code on youth competition to curtail the trend. Future competitions will stress the basic skills," he said.

His views are echoed by Zhang Jian, a leading official with theState General Administration of Sports, who is in charge of the sport. "For a gymnast, it doesn't matter if one novice fails to learn routines, the bad thing is that gymnasts fail to learn them properly. It is harder for gymnasts to change a routine than learning it," he said.

Gao Jian, another leading official for Chinese gymnastics, saidthat whatever changes to the scoring system, gymnasts need to havea sound foundation in basic skills.

"Without the basics, gymnasts are liable to injuries and can't provide consistent performance in competitions. " "So emphasis on basic skills is a better choice," Gao added.




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