Asian gymnastics championships open after five years delay

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Last updated at: (Beijing Time) Saturday, November 22, 2003

Asian gymnastics championships open after five years delay

The second Asian Gymnastics Championships, originally planned to be held five years ago, opened Guangzhou on Friday.

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The second Asian Gymnastics Championships, originally planned to be held five years ago, opened Guangzhou on Friday.

When addressing the opening ceremony, Hidenori Futagi, president of the Asian Gymnastics Union (AGU), said it is "significant to Asian gymnastics" for the second championships being held.

Seven years has past since the inaugural event in Changsha, also in China, in 1996. Although Asia is by no means short of world-class gymnasts in the past two decades, only invitational tournaments had been held before 1996 and organizers wanted to boost the public interest in this sport in Asia through the continental championships.

Few countries, however, had been willing to host the championships, which had been planned to be held every two years. The second championships had been put off infinitely until the southern Chinese city offered to be the host.

Disproportionate to the rare interest, gymnasts from this region constantly made their marks in the world field. The Chinese national team grabbed a team-record five gold medals and topped the final standings in this year's 37th world champions in Anaheim. Takehiro Kashima also contributed two golds for Japan.

"Even in the world gymnastics field, I believe that Asia, as a developing region, will influence the development of gymnastics industries," said Futagi.

The four-day Guangzhou championships have drawn 300 gymnasts from 16 delegations for 28 gold medals, 14 each for junior and senior competitions.

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