China

Two golds for China on final day of Gymnastics Worlds

(Agencies)
Updated: 2010-10-25 09:28

ROTTERDAM, the Netherlands - China had a successful final day of the Artistic Gymnastics World Championships on Sunday in Rotterdam. Feng Zhe won gold on parallel bars and Zhang Chenglong did the same on horizontal bar.

(L-R) Epke Zonderland of the Netherlands, Zhang Chenglong of China and Fabian Hambuechen of Germany celebrate on the podium after the men's horizontal bar finals at the Artistic Gymnastics World Championships in Rotterdam October 24, 2010. [Photo/Agencies]

Feng Zhe got 15.966 points and stayed ahead of his compatriot Teng Haibin (15.616). He succeeded another Chinese, Wang Guanying, who finished before him last year in London. Individual all-around winner Kohei Uchimura from Japan captured a bronze medal after scoring 15.500 points.

The final routine of the day was the most exciting for the Dutch crowd in the Ahoy arena. Home favorite Epke Zonderland hoped to win his first World title on horizontal bar and was really close to his goal after a magnificent performance worth 16.033 points. However, Zhang Chenglong (16.166) went past him in the final performance of the tournament. Fabian Hambuechen (15.966) from Germany captured a bronze medal and Feng Zhe (15.166) finished seventh.

The third men's event of the day ended in a victory for Thomas Bouhail. The 24-year-old Frenchman scored 16.449 points on vault and finished ahead of Anton Golotsutskov from Russia (16.366) and Dzmitry Kaspiarovich from Belarus (16.316).

On the women's side, Australian Lauren Mitchell defeated favorite Aliya Mustafina from Russia in a thrilling final on floor. The 19-year-old gymnast scored 14.822 points and Mustafina and Romanian Diana Chelaru shared the second place with 14.766.

Feng Zhe of China performs during the men's parallel bars finals at the Artistic Gymnastics World Championships in Rotterdam October 24, 2010. [Photo/Agencies]

Romania's Ana Porgras succeeded Deng Linlin of China as the new world champion on beam. The 16-year-old gymnast kept her nerves under control and well deserved the highest total of 15.366 points. China's defending champion Deng scored 15.233 points and shared the second place with Rebecca Bross from the United States.

"I'm not satisfied with our performance. As the team champions of the Beijing Olympics, we didn't play very well this time," said Lu Shanzhen, head coach of the Chinese women's team. "But we'll keep improving ourselves, and we will be the strongest team at the London Olympics. We'll fight for more gold medals."

China became the most successful country at the 42nd Artistic Gymnastics Worlds after collecting four gold medals, four silver and one bronze. Russian Aliya Mustafina became the queen of the tournament with two golds and three silvers.