Chinese men's gymnasts claim hat-trick

STUTTGART, Germany: Defending champions China blew its rivals away to claim a third straight men's title at the World Gymnastics Championships yesterday.

A day after the women's team lost their title to the United States, the six-man squad of Yang Wei, Xiao Qin, Huang Xu, Chen Yibing, Liang Fuliang and Zou Kai gave a demonstration in gymnastics to Olympic champions Japan.

The Chinese led all the way to claim the title for the eighth time and in the process match the record held by the former Soviet Union.

It is also the seventh time China has won the title at the past eight worlds, as they pave the way to recapaturing the Olympic title next year in Beijing.

China led Japan by 0.425 points after the first apparatus and built up its advantage on pommel horse. Pommel horse expert Xiao Qin turned in a world-class performance, receiving an amazing 16.225.

It seemed that the title was already beyond Japan's reach midway when China scored a total of 47.525 points on rings and were 4.4 points ahead overall.

Chen Yibin impressed with a well-executed layout and his 16.450 was the highest on the apparatus.

Before the final rotation of high bar, China had extended the edge to 6.1 points over Japan. Although Japanese high-bar specialists concluded their presentation with dazzling turns and somersaults, it came too late for them to stage a comeback miracle.

Agencies

(China Daily 09/07/2007 page23)