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The Major Competitions in 2003 |
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Results
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Chunichi Cup
Men's Apparatus Finals |
Report
(web published on Jan. 12, 2004) |
DATE: December 7, 2003
PLACE: Nagoya Sports Complex Rainbow Hall
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| Men's Pommel Horse Final Award Ceremony |
FLOOR
A lot of mistakes in the three consecutive somersault combination were seen in the final, and the key point for a medal was stability without mistakes on the tumbling passes. Alexei Bondarenko of Russia was the outstanding tumbler as usual; tucked double-double mount, one and a half twisting back somersault to full twisting layout front to 1 3/4 front, and tucked full-in dismount. He was also excellent in his Gogolaze to Fedrchenko combination, and the stability in his whole routine was good enough to win a gold. Takehiro Kashima of Japan was also stable in each tumbling pass. Fedrchenko had seemingly the best execution in the competition, but his start value (9.8) cost him the win. He ended up with a silver medal. U.S. gymnast, Sean Townsend was very powerful in each tumbling pass (some form breaks, though). He placed third and got the only medal for the U.S.
POMMEL HORSE
In the all-around final, Liang Fuliang of China got the top score over the world champion, Kashima of Japan, but in the final, he had leg separation in his travel backward. In contrast, Kashima was almost perfect: he started with a very beautiful Spindle to E-combined circle on one pommel, and continued a very clean routine until his dismount to beat Liang. Naoya Tsukahara followed them with a very clean Wu Goniang to a Russian on the end of the horse.
RINGS
Each gymnast in the final seemed to be tired in his strength elements and had poor position or did not hold the positions long enough. The winners were solid in handstands and stuck their dismounts. Cho Seong-Min of Korea had poor execution on each cross, but he hit a strong combination: kip to Maltese ? Azarian ? press to Maltese ? Nakayama. He stuck his double layout dismount and didn't have obvious mistakes to win the gold. Hiroyuki Tomita of Japan had a similar routine to Cho's, but had a small step on his landing which cost him the win. Yang Tae-Yong of Korea was very strong on his back uprise to Maltese ? Nakayama ? press to Maltese ? Azarian, but he had a big wobble on his front uprise to handstand and it prevented him from beating Cho. Finally he tied with Tomita for second place.
VAULT
There were two superb vaults with a 10 start value. Cho Seong-Min performed a front handspring layout Randi (Yeo II) and Bondareno did a piked Tsukahara double, but both failed to land well. Cho, however, hit a Driggs for his second vault to win the gold, but Bondarenko missed his Roche. Yang Tae-Yong did a Driggs with a big step forward but stuck his front handspring layout Rudi to pass Bondarenko, and tie Cho. Bondarenko ended up third.
PARALLEL BARS
Because Peach or Peach-half were performed by almost every gymnast, execution of these stunts to handstand was a very big point of the contention. Feng Jing of China did a very beautiful piked belle, but missed his giant to instant Diamidov (He had steps in the handstand), and was short on his handstand after Stutzukehre. His compatriot, Liang Fuliang had a very smooth piked Belle and giant to instant Diamidov, and stuck his double pike dismount to win this event. Naoya Tsukahara did not have a big break but had a little balance check in his Peach-half. He ended up second as a result. Bondarenko was very speedy throughout his routine, and had good originality in his connection between the big skills. He placed third.
HORIZONTAL BAR
Bondarenko scored best in the all-around (9.775), and he challenged Takehiro Kashima, the world champion of this event at Anaheim. Bondarenko hit the crowd favorite four consecutive releases: layout Tkachev ? straddle Tkachev ? piked Tkachev ? Gienger, but the Ginger was a little close to the bar. He had a hop in his dismount and was short of his best. Kashima did a very clean Kovacs, and showed superb stability in full-twisting Endo and full-twisting el-grip Endo with very beautiful execution. He also had a hop in his dismount but peformed well enough to win. Tomita did not perform full twisting piked Endo to mixed grip smoothly, but did not make any big mistakes to place third after Kashima and Bondarenko. America's Jason Furr showed the combination of piked Kovacs to tucked Kovacs, but he fell in his tucked Kovacs. However, the crowd was excited by his attempt at this combination.
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