Chinese Li Xiaopeng Steals Spotlight in Asiad Gymnastics

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Last updated at: (Beijing Time) Sunday, October 06, 2002

Chinese Li Xiaopeng Steals Spotlight in Asiad Gymnastics

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Chinese Olympic champion Li Xiaopeng won two of his three events in the last-day gymnastics finals, winning the vault and parallel bars titles to the applause of the audience at the Sajik Gymnasium Saturday afternoon.

At the end of the five-day gymnastics tournament in the Asian Games, Li, a member of the winning Chinese men's team, also became a triple gold medalist, to join the ranks with fellow gymnasts Teng Haibin and Huang Xu.

Li, a banner-bearer of the Chinese men's team, stirred up roars of cheers with his excellent performances in the vault and parallel bars routines.

In the day's first final of the vault, he displayed his difficult and superb actions, collecting 9.700 in his first try and scoring 9.775 in his second with a solid landing for an average 9.737 points, awarding the eighth gymnastic gold for China.

His compatriot and Olympic champion Yang Wei was 0.062 behind to take the silver medal, while host South Korea's Kim Dae-yeun finished third in 9.312 points.

In the following parallel bars, Li again entertained the full-capacity audience with his master skills and stamina to secure his second gold of the day in 9.800 points, which was only tied by fellow gymnast Huang Xu for a double golds for China.

"I performed quite well on the vault and parallel bars, but not on the horizontal bar," Li said after the finals, "And I need to improve my horizontal bar routines after I back home."

"I couldn't have a full training because of the injuries," explained Li who was suffering injuries to his left knee before the Asian Games.

Chinese national head coach Huang Yubin lavished his praise upon his disciple, saying Li was "an excellent gymnast with experiences who can skillfully use his strength."

Li, a key member in the Chinese men's team after the Sydney Olympic Games, spoke highly of his teammates, especially youngest Teng Haibin as the debutant exerted very well in all the events he participated.

And Liang Fuliang, who replaced Olympic champion Xing Aowei for the Busan Games, also did his best to help the Chinese team secure the team gold medal days ago, Li said.

Teng also collected three golds from the team event, the pommel horse, together with DPR Korean Kim Hyon-il and the horizontal bar,which ushered in another pair of winners, Japanese Hiroyuki Tomitaand South Korean Yang Tae-seok.

Li Xiaopeng, who was honored as the best male gymnast in the Busan Asian Games, hoped that China will win more golds at the 2004 Olympic Games in Athens.

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