China’s Ruoteng Xiao in action.
Kohei Uchimura had to endure another disappointing day at the 11th FIG Artistic Individual Apparatus World Cup here at the Aspire Dome yesterday.
The six-time all-around World champion failed to cross the hurdle in the men’s vault and horizontal qualification rounds on Day Two. This was after the 29-year-old had bowed out of the pommel horse and rings competition on the opening day. The Japanese legend, however, was making his competitive return from long injury off. Uchimura had injured his ankle and withdrew during the qualification round of the World Championship in Montreal last October.
On Wednesday, he had blamed his poor show by his standards to the injury scare playing on his mind and being a bit cautious. Yesterday too, he looked a bit tentative and never went full throttle, making it a forgettable first visit to Doha. Uchimura is widely regarded as one of the best in his era in Vault, but the he finished 10th with 14.100 points. Ukraine’s Igor Radivilov and Chinese duo Huang Mingqi and Qu Ruiyang took the first three positions.
Uchimura came a cropper in the horizontal bar too, where he ended up 10th after a tally of 13.433 points. “I will check all the footages of my performances when I get back to Japan. I need to work on my weaknesses,” Uchimura said yesterday. “Training was excellent, but I wasn’t in the best of my mood,” he added.
“It’s disappointing, as I wanted to qualify for the finals,” said Uchimura. “As I said before, this was not hundred percent from me. I was not fully fit and also lacked practice. I just wanted to return to action after injury but my leg was paining. I didn’t want to push it hard. But, I am hopeful that I will regain my form soon,” he added.
Ironically, China’s Xiao Ruoteng, who succeeded Uchimura in Montreal, stormed into the finals of parallel bars and horizontal bars following an impressive performance.
Ruoteng made a strong comeback after failing on the horse on first day. The world champion won the qualification round for horizontal bars after a flawless show that lent him 14.833 points, ahead of Frenchman Edgar Boulet (14.533 points) and compatriot Shudi Deng (14.500) Ruoteng stood second in parallel bars with 15.133 points behind another compatriot Jingyuan Zou who won the qualifying round with 16.266 points. Romania’s Andrei Vasile took third spot.
France’s duo Melanie de Jesus and Marine Boyer grabbed the first two qualification spots followed by Belgium’s Nina Derwael in the women’s balance beam. Japanese duo Yuki Uchiyama and Nagi Kajita also made it to the finals. But Uzbekistan’s veteran gymnast Oksana Chusovitina, who had qualified for the vault final on Wednesday, came 12th. Great Britain’s Taeja James stormed into the finals with an effort of 13.533 points followed by Rune Hermans (Belgium), Elisa Meneghini (Italy), Nagi Kajita (Japan), Liu Jinru (China), Lara Mori (Italy), Kim Su Jong (PRK) and Marine Boyer (France).
Today, the finals of men’s floor exercise, pommel horse and rings will be held while women’s will compete for top honours in vault and uneven bars.
Results
Men’s Vault Qualification
1. Igor Radivilov (UKR) 14.649 points; 2. Mingqi Huang (CHN) 14.616; 3. Ruiyang Qu (CHN) 14.533; 4. Ferhat Arican (TUR) 14.416; 5. Chih Kai Lee (TPE) 14.249; 6. Carlos Edriel Yulo (PHI) 14.183; 7. Takumi Sato (JPN) 14.183; 8. Konstantin Kuzovkov (GEO) 14.116
Men’s Parallel Bars Qualification
1. Jingyuan Zou (CHN) 16.266 points; 2. Ruoteng Xiao (CHN) 15.133; 3. Andrei Vasile MUNTEAN (ROU) 14.533; 4. Yuya Kamoto (JPN) 14.433; 5. Aleksandr Chicherov (RUS) 14.366; 6. Ferhat Arican (TUR ) 14.300; 7. Ryohei Kato (JPN) 14.166; 8. Marvin Kimble (USA) 14.133
Men’s Horizontal Bar Qualification
1. Ruoteng Xiao (CHN) 14.833 points; 2. Edgar Boulet (FRA) 14.533; 3. Shudi Deng (CHN) 14.500; 4. Tin Srbic (CRO) 14.333; 5. Ryohei Kato (JPN) 14.300; 6. Marvin Kimble (USA) 13.633; 7. Noah Kuavita (BEL) 13.566; 8. Alec Yoder (USA) 13.533
Women’s Floor Exercise Qualification
1. Taeja James (GBR) 13.533 points; 2. Rune Hermans (BEL) 13.500; 3. Elisa Meneghini (ITA) 13.466; 4. Nagi Kajita (JPN) 13.433; 5. Jinru Liu (CHN) 13.266; 6. Lara Mori (ITA) 13.266; 7. Su Jong Kim (PRK) 13.200; 8. Axelle Klinckaert (BEL) 13.133; 8. Marine Boyer (FRA) 13.133
Women’s Balance Beam Qualification
1. Melanie de Jesus dos Santos (FRA) 13.733 points; 2. Marine Boyer (FRA) 13.666; 3. Nina Derwael (BEL) 13.500; 4. Aneta Holasova (CZE) 13.200; 5. Yuki Uchiyama (JPN) 13.166; 6. Nagi Kajita (JPN) 12.900; 7. Adela Sajn (SLO) 12.866; 8. Nora Feher (HUN) 12.800
