The Qatar Gymnastics Federation president and chairman of the organising committee Ali al-Hitmi (left) oversees the preparations with other officials yesterday.
The FIG Artistic Gymnastics World Cup will begin from tomorrow, as the gymnasts sweat it out at the Aspire Academy yesterday ahead of the Doha leg of the championship.
The four-day tournament will be held from tomorrow till Friday, with first two days reserved for qualifications and the last two for the finals of eight apparatus in men’s and women’s.
Gymnasts from New Zealand, China, Japan, South Africa, Belgium and Ireland trained at the Aspire, getting accustomed to the tournament venue. Around 150 gymnasts, including world and Olympic champions, from 39 countries will show their pyrotechnics in Doha. Qatar will be represented by young gymnasts Ahmed Nabil and Jana al-Kiki, who will be taking part in the event for the second time. They both trained under the supervision of their coaches yesterday.
The 11th edition of the World Cup is an important one for Qatar Gymnastics Federation (QGF), which will organise the World Championships in October later his year. The QGF is looking at this tournament as a test event for the marquee event. The QGF president and chairman of the organising committee Ali al-Hitmi said all things are in place for the championship to start.
“We are ready for the launch of the championship. The Organising Committee has completed all the arrangements for the championship and everyone is waiting for the tournament to start,” al-Hitmi said.
“We’re proud to host this annual event. It has strengthened Doha’s position as the venue of world’s top class sports tournaments,” said al-Hitmi, who is also a FIG Executive Member.
Reigning all-around Olympic champion Kohei Uchimura and China’s current all-around world champion Xuo Ruoteng are the two top names who will be seen in action.
“We can expect an interesting and exciting battle between the two at the Doha leg of FIG World Cup Series,” said QGF Technical Expert Anis Saoud.
The 28-year-old Japanese Uchimura had won a six successive world all-around titles, but missed out at the last World Championships in Montreal, Canada, following a bad fall in the second qualifying event.
Ruoteng, who succeeded Uchimura last year, became the first Chinese to win gold in a major global individual all-around competition since Yang Wei at the 2008 Beijing Games.
Uzbekistan’s seven-time Olympian Oksana Chusovitina, probably the oldest gymnast competing at the highest level, will strive to excel in the women’s competition which will have gymnasts half her age.
The 43-year-old had beaten Australia’s Emily Little and Slovenia’s Teja Belak in Doha last year to win the vault gold. Belgium’s 17-year-old Nina Derwael, who became her country’s first gymnast to win a World Championship medal last year in Montreal, Canada, will be another attraction. Derwael won a bronze on the uneven bars and will hope to live up to her expectations.
Meanwhile, Abeer al-Buainain, Assistant Secretary of the QGF and the championship manager said the federation had worked intensively throughout the last days to make sure everything is in readiness.
“We are pleased with the facilities we have and we have great confidence in the ability of all the staff of the various committees to organise the even in perfect manner,” al-Buainain said.
