DATE: November 15, 2003
PLACE: KUMAGAYA DOME, Kumagaya, Saitama
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| Award Ceremony for Women's All-Around Final |
At this meet, Manami Ishizaka and Shoko Ono were outstanding for their
solidity, and as a result, they were the top two.
In the first rotation, Ayaka Sahara stuck her front handspring piked barani
and Ishizaka performed a very beautiful one and a half twisting Yurchenko,
which might have been the best vault of the day. Ono and Mayu Kuroda were
weak on vault, and could not score well. Performing in the second group,
Erika Mizoguchi performed a very clean routine on uneven bars.
In the second rotation, Ishizaka did not have good rhythm on her sequence
of el-grip giants but did not make a mistake and showed a solid full-in
dismount. Ono was a little bit low on her arabian double dismount, but
her other parts were very clean and far from mistakes. Kyoko Oshima and
Sahara missed their dismounts (layout double back and triple twist, respectively),
but Kuroda had an excellent routine with beautiful body line on her best
event (she was the defending champion on this event).
In the third rotation, on beam, Ishizaka had a big balance check on her
full twisting tuck jump (one foot slipped) but she stayed calm for the
rest of the routine. Ono was almost perfect as in the team final, and stuck
her two and a half twisting back sommie dismount. Oshima had big jumps
with good height but a slight balance check in her front aerial and couldn't
connect the other elements to earn bonus points However, her performance
was very clean. Kuroda made the most of her beautiful body line, especially
with her stretched knees and pointed toes, on beam, too. Sahara fell on
her round-off to layout back mount. She continued with a very solid routine
after that, though.
In the last rotation, on floor, Sahara hit her routine, including piked
full-in mount, which only she performed at this meet, and her beautiful
whip to triple twist. Oshima missed her new combination, double twisting
layout front to full twisting layout front. Kuroda put her hands down on
her double pike. Ishizaka was very solid with much confidence and hit her
triple turn completely (she smiled after that during the routine!) She
slightly underrotated her triple twist dismount, but she had no major breaks
for two days and her solid performances were just outstanding. Finally,
Ishizaka won the national championship by almost one point. Ono was also
very solid as well as Ishizaka, and placed second. She and Kuroda, sixth
place, are the great hopes after Athens. Sahara and Oshima had some big
mistakes but they still have the potential to go to the top. Only two spots
for Athens seems too few for these great gymnasts.
Comment from Manami Ishizaka
"I got more nervous than ever on the last event, floor, but I'm satisfied
with my performance. On beam I got tight and my performance was timid because
I never get bonus points for my combination and I was too concentrated
to perform well. (I think) Japan did not qualifiy for the team competition
at the Olympics because of my fall, but that made me much more motivated
and I could practice without mistakes every day. That might be the key
point for this victory.
At the world championships, I saw many foreign gymnasts perform with confidence.
I thought I have to be very confident and to think "please watch and enjoy
my routine!" . From now on, I think I have to upgrade my routines to gain
more bonus points and increase my start values, and I want to perform with
fewer deductions. "
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