Ishizaka wins her fourth consecutive NHK Cup.

36 gymnasts qualified for the trials for the World Championships at the 2005 nationals last October, and 24 of them qualified for the NHK Cup at those trials. The NHK Cup was the final trials for both the World Championships in Aarhus, Denmark, and the Asian Games in Doha, Qatar.

Before the NHK Cup, the Asian Games roster had been already announced according to the results of the secondary trials. The members are as follows; Manami Ishizaka, Miki Uemura, Kyoko Oshima, and Wa Setsubai (He Xuemei). Alternate: Ayaka Sahara.

The new Code of Points is a challenge for women gymnasts, but there was no drastic change in the competition. Since the NHK Cup is the second meet in Japan to be judged under the new Code, the gymnasts are still seeking their own style of routines. At least it is possible to say that the range of deduction has been increased for the B panel and the judges are more aware of the deductions in execution for difficult elements.. For example, if gymnasts perform a D skill with a very big wobble on beam, they will lose 0.5 (0.3 deduction in the previous code) from the B score as a deduction in execution, even though they will receive 0.4 in the A score for performing the D skill. If that skill was the only one to meet a specific requirement, they will lose 0.5 from the A score. Therefore, many gymnasts opted to perform confident C elements rather than difficult D or E skills, and thus more C skills could be seen in the competition. One more change could be seen on beam and floor; since a dance combination can no longer receive a bonus point, gymnasts were more likely to perform single dance elements.

Even with new routines for the new code, Manami Ishizaka was still the most stable and reliable gymnast. She won her fourth consecutive NHK Cup! Her only mistake was a hand support on an acrobat element on beam on the second day. She did not change her routines on vault or uneven bars and she hit those routines perfectly on both days. She put a side aerial on beam, and performed back sommie with one and a half twist to punch layout front instead of triple twist on floor. (She could get 0.6 for the Difficulty Value, and 0.1 for the connection bonus. Her total was 0.7 and higher than the 0.5 for the triple twist that she used to perform) She also changed another combination; she upgraded her second pass from layout back sommie with two and a half twist to punch front to layout back sommie with two and a half twist to punch layout front. She has room to improve her routines not only in the A score but also in the B score, but her biggest challenge will be "doing her best" in the big international meets. She has never made the all-around finals in the World Championships or the Olympics, even though she became the NHK Cup champion for the fourth time this year.

The runner up was Miki Uemura, the national champion last year. She was not confident on her weak event, floor exercise (unstable landings on both days), but maintained the difficulty in her routines on uneven bars and beam according to the current code. Her excellent Stalder work and very high punch front on beam will be worth seeing in the World Championships. It is surprising that this is her first World Championships (she was an alternate in 2003), although she made the Asian Games team in 2002. Her lack of experience in the international scene will not help her.

The champion of the 2006 Friendship Classic in the United States, Mayu Kuroda, finished third. She flounders on her weak vault (a low Luconi) and floor (double pike mount and two and a half twist dismount; no connection bonus in the acrobat passes), but she had no fear on uneven bars or beam. Her beautiful execution throughout the routine on uneven bars and beam was absolutely world class! Her routine on bars, on which she placed fourth in the 2005 World Championships, did not change very much; she only added a Ray after the overshoot to handstand on low bar.

It was good to see junior gymnasts following the top three: Koko Tsurumi, Mai Yamagishi, and Momoko Ozawa were fourth, fifth and sixth respectively. Tsurumi's style of gymnastics resembled that of Chinese gymnasts and her movement was very crisp. Her routine on uneven bars was a good example of Chinese style (very stable Ono turn to Jaeger; very beautiful layout double dismount). Mai Yamagishi was strong on vault and uneven bars; She did a one and a half twisting Yurchenko on vault and very clean giant with full pirouette to Pak. Ozawa did not have a good meet this time, missing on beam and floor. However, the crowd loved her lovely choreography on floor to the music from Bewitched. Tsurumi and Yamagishi were 14 and Ozawa was 15 this year so they could not qualify for the World Championships team this year due to the age limit. But they will surely become the powers of the 2008 Olympics!

He Xuemei, a '92 Olympian from China, has now moved to Japan and her name has become "Wa Setsubai" (the Japanese pronunciation of her Chinese name). She now competes in her new country. This 29 year-old lady will make the Asian Championships team, but she missed three of four events on the first day. She regained her power on the second day and hit all events. She did roundoff to full twisting layout on beam! Her score on the second day (57.100) was very strong but her low total score on the first day cost her a qualifying spot. Kyoko Oshima struggled on both days and seemed to be out of shape this time. In contrast to those two, Ayaka Sahara was very stable throughout the competition. She kept her characteristic triple twist dismount on bars in reserve but she had no big mistakes and gained good B scores instead of high A scores on all events. Oshima and Sahara were seventh and eighth respectively, and made the team.

It was very exciting to see the battle to qualify for the World Championships roster by the rest of gymnasts on the second day. Finally, Erika Mizoguchi and Keiko Mukumoto battled for the last spot. Mukumoto missed her full twisting el grip giant and stopped in a kip cast handstand after underswing to high bar with flight. Mizoguchi had a very big wobble on her Kochetkova on beam. Finally, Mizoguchi, the 2001 national champion, won the battle by 0.125. Thus, Mukumoto missed her first chance to make the team.

Four of the six members had competed at the 2003 World Championships and they must still remember the tears of vexation when they placed fourteenth and missed qualifying for the 2004 Olympics. At this World Championships, they will have to place 16th or higher in order to go to the 2007 World Championships which will be the qualification for the 2008 Olympics. Since the European countries are developing their power, the battle will be very tough and no big error will be allowed. These veterans, mostly 20 years-old, know what they need to improve now in order to compete at the World Championships.

WOMEN'S ROSTER FOR WORLD CHAMPIONSHIPS & ASIAN GAMES

Manami Ishizaka
Miki Uemura
Mayu Kuroda
Kyoko Oshima
Ayaka Sahara
Erika Mizoguchi
(ALT) Keiko Mukumoto