Doha (QAT) March 23, 2017: China’s Liu Tingting was in top form, qualifying for the women’s floor exercise and balance beam at the 10th FIG Artistic Apparatus Individual World Cup at the Aspire Dome on Thursday.
The 15-year-old, who had an impressive outing at the Melbourne leg last month, collected 13.566 points followed by Australia’s Emily Little (12.866) and Turkey’s Goksu Uctas Sanli (12.566).
Croatia’s Ana Derek, Hungary’s Zsofia Kovacs, Uzbekistan’s Oksana Chusovitina, Czech Republic’s Adela Merkova and her compatriot Vendula Merkova also secured a berth in the final.
Tingting, who missed last year’s Rio Games due to injury, also showed she is one of the most promising among the current crop of youngsters by topping the chart in the balance beam qualification.
She tallied 13.933, piping Romania’s 2004 Olympic champion Catalina Ponor (13.766) and Little (13.233).
In fact, the balance beam final is expected to be the most keenly watched event, with China’s Luo Huan, Australia’s Emma Nedov, Sanli, Kovacs and Derek also securing a spot in the final.
Meanwhile, Vietnam’s Tung le Thanh qualified for the men’s vault final with a score of 14.750 points.
Armenia’s Artur Davtyan (14.716) and Australia’s Christopher Remkes (14.416) came second and third respectively.
Romania’s veteran gymnast Marian Dragulescu, Turkey’s Ferhat Arican, Australia’s Clay Mason Stephens, Finland’s Heikki Saarenketo, Germany’s Felix Remuta made it to the final.
In the men’s horizontal bar, China’s Xiao Ruoteng (14.433), Australia’s Mitchell Morgans (14.100) and Croatia’s Tin Srbic (14.100) qualified along with Lithuania’s Robert Tvorogal and Tomas Kuzmickas, Switzerland’s Christian Baumann, Cypru’s Marios Georgiou and Germany’s Christopher Jursch.
China’s Zou Jingyuan (16.1660), Switzerland’s Pablo Braegger (15.033) and Arican (14.933) claimed the first three in the men’s parallel bars qualifying rounds.
Germany’s Marcel Nguyen, Kuzmickas, Vietnam’s Thanh Phuong Dinh, Hung Phuoc Pham and Davtyan also earned entry into the final.
Results: https://sports.app.box.com/s/jwkkypbwf4naje80474jg76fzjr650qv/1/20866634725
