DOHA: China’s world reigning parallel bar champion Zou Jingyuan reproduced the form that saw him become a world champion last October to win the men’s title on the final evening of the 12th FIG ART Individual Apparatus World Cup on Saturday.
The 21-year-old, who made his debut at the World Championships in 2017, had a difficulty score of 6.6 as he reaffirmed his domination in the event with 15.700 points.
Vladislav Poliashov almost gave the Chinese a neck-to-neck fight, but the Russian had to be content with a silver (15.066). Australian Mitchell Morgans finished third (14.566).
God of vault Yang Hak-Seon reigns supreme
2012 Olympic champion Yang Hak-Seon, who was South Korea’s first gymnast to win a gold, reigned supreme in the men’s vault final by scoring 15.266 points.
This was his second successive gold after the Baku-leg last week where the 28-year-old had pipped Ukraine’s Ihor Radivilov.
The script didn’t change much in the Qatari capital, with the Ukrainian (14.916) once again finished behind the Korean. A familiar face in Doha, Aremenia’s Artur Davtyan finished third (14.695).
Srbic wins; Zonderland finishes seventh
There were plenty of excitement reserved for the final of the last event — Horizontal Bar – which was won by Croatia’s Tin Srbic. But the biggest shock was a seventh-place finish by world champion Epke Zonderland.
Srbic (14.400), who competed last, beat Japan’s Hidetaka Miyachi (14.300) by a hair’s breadth. Cuba’s Randy Leru was third (14.000).
“It was a tough final. It was like a World Championships final with all these great competitors. It’s difficult to compete in the last, said Srbic.