Chengdu Universiade | China wins men's team title in artistic gymnastics

Gold medalists team China (C), silver medalists team Japan (L) and bronze medalists team South Korea pose during the awarding ceremony for artistic gymnastics men's team at the 31st FISU Summer World University Games in Chengdu, southwest China's Sichuan Province, Aug. 2, 2023. (Xinhua/Zhang Liyun)

CHENGDU, Aug. 2 (Xinhua) -- China clinched artistic gymnastics men's team title with 262.594 points at the Chengdu Universiade here on Wednesday, while Japan took silver and South Korea claimed bronze.

China's Zhang Boheng, Zou Jingyuan, Lan Xingyu, Su Weide and Shi Cong are all members of the national team, while defending champion Japanese team consists of all-around world champion Daiki Hashimoto, Universiade 2019 all-around champion Kazuma Kaya, Kaito Sugimoto, Kazuki Minami and young gymnast Shohei Kawakami. The contest between the two teams is seen as a prelude of Paris 2024.

China's men started the final in the third subdivision from the floor exercise. After the subdivision, China got to the top position with 262.594 points.

China's Olympic champion Zou from Chengdu Sport University gave an outstanding performance on the parallel bars, and the team took top four spots to show dominance in this event.

All-around world champion Zhang from Hunan Normal University showed his balanced strength in six apparatuses, except for that he made a little mistake on the pommel horse. Shi, a student of Nanjing Sport Institute, gave a superb performance on the horizontal bar, and Lan from Guangxi University excelled in the afternoon, especially on the rings.

Japan's gymnasts showed up in the last subdivision. They had obvious weak aspects of the rings but showed advantages in floor exercise and vault. Star gymnast Hashimoto kept a solid performance all night and topped the all-around qualification in the end.

After first four rotations, the Japanese team maintained a slim lead with 0.3 points over the Chinese team. But in the last two rotations of parallel bars and horizontal Bar, the Chinese team dominated again and won eventually. Japan finished second on 260.495 points.

The team finals also served as the qualification for the all-around and apparatus finals later this week. China's Zhang and Shi entered all-around final, and they will vie for the title against Japan's Hashimoto and Kazuma Kaya on Friday.

"I'm not very satisfied with my performance on the pommel horse in the team final. But I will do better on Friday. I didn't expect to meet Hashimoto this year, I want to defeat him and win the all-around title this time. There is pressure, but more motivation," said Zhang.