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China's Top Gymnast Injuried in Olympic Training
Chinese top gymnast Lu Yufu suffered injury to his neck and was replaced by Zheng Lihui for the coming the Millennium Olympic Games, said Chinese team manager of the gymnastics delegation in Sydney on Tuesday.
Lu, 22, sustained the injury Monday afternoon as he hesitated in his tumbling before heading down to the floor over the vault, Zhang Jian told Xinhua.
"Lu Yufu is an all-around gymnast of world-class calibre. He has maintained his top form in the past six months, earning his Olympic berth against rings specialist Dong Zheng," said manager Zhang.
"It's a pity for both Lu himself and the Chinese gymnastics team," said the Chinese top gymnastics official, "Yet it's not expected to exert too much effects over China's prospect of winning the men's team title in Sydney as we have another two substitutes of strong capabilities."
Zheng Lihui, replacement of Lu Yufu, was training in New Castle, some two-hour journey away from Sydney, and was called into the athletes village through proper procedures, said the official.
The 22-year-old Zheng, with a height of 1.58 meters, reapt his first all-around individual title from the 19th Universiade in Italy in August 1997 before spearheading his provisional teammates for the national team title in 1998.
Started training at the age of nine, Zheng finished fourth in the Olympic gymnastics trials in May this year.
Lu Yufu, who was recruited into the national squad in 1995, savored his first success in the world arena by reaping the gold medals in the floor exercise and pommel horse in the East Asia Games in South Korea in May 1997, where he was also a member of the championship team.
Also a member of the Chinese team that won the World Championships in Lausanne in August 1997, Lu became national vault champion in 1998, and helped China retain the team title in the last World Championships in 1999, besides a fifth place finish in the individual all-around competitions in Tianjin, China.
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