International Gymnast - October 2011

JAPAN ACES UNIVERSIADE Gymnasts from Japan won 12 medals— including gold in the women’s and men’s team titles—at the 26th World University Games, held Aug. 13-16 in Shenzhen, China. Olympian Yu Minobe of Japan was the most successful gymnast, winning three gold medals. China, the defending women’s team champion, did not field a full team. All-around contender Jo Hyunjoo of Korea withdrew from the all-around final after a heavy fall from uneven bars, but rebounded to win the vault event final the next day.

•Japantopteamat Universiadein Shenzhen
• Komovaclaimsunevenbarstitleat Ghent
• Ponor winstwogoldsat Romaniannationals

BY JOHN CRUMLISH

Women’s Team: 1. JPN 165.20; 2. UKR 164.60; 3. RUS 162.15.

AA: 1. Xiao Kangjun CHN 56.70; 2. Mai Yamagishi JPN 56.10; 3. Alyona Polyan RUS 55.35; 4. Yu Minobe JPN 54.45; 5. Kristyna Palesova CZE 53.40; 6. Jana Sikulova CZE 53.05; 7. Irina Sazonova RUS 53.00; 8. Yana Demyanchuk UKR 52.50; 9. Monika Frandofert POL 51.75; 10. Barbara Gasser AUT 51.35; 11. Jenna Walters GBR 50.60; 12(t). Ivana Kamnikar SLO, Maria Homolo-va SVK 50. 15.

Men’s Team: 1. JPN 269.20; 2. CHN 265.65; 3. ROU 264.65.

AA: 1. Nikolai Kuksenkov UKR 89.05; 2. Shoichi
Yamamoto JPN 88.90; 3. Nathan Gafuik CAN
88.35; 4. Liu Rongbin CHN 87.70; 5. Lee Hyeok
Jung KOR 86.75; 6. Stepan Gorbachyov KAZ
85.90; 7. Casey Sandy CAN 85.80; 8(t). Javier
Gomez ESP, Matthew Firth GBR 85.70; 10. Axel
Augis FRA 85.45; 11. Francisco Barretto BRA
85.25; 12. Petro Pakhnyuk UKR 85.10.

CHINA DOMINATES GHENT With nine medals, China dominated the Ghent Challenger Cup, held Sept. 3-4 in Belgium.The competition marked the return of Russian star Viktoria Komova, who is recovering from ankle surgery in May. She won bars. Ghent also proved to be a break-out meet for Greek rings specialist Eleftherios Petrounias, who won rings after finishing second, third and fourth on the event in major meets the past few years.

1994, in Geradstetten, Tolle is coached by Tamara Khokhlova at MTV Stuttgart. Last year she finished third all-around at the German championships, fifth on vault and floor at the DTB Cup, and 14th with her team at the ’ 10 world championships.

Liebrich, who was born Feb. 6, 1988, in Göppingen, was a member of the gold medal-winning German team at the ’06 European junior championships, where he also placed fifth on vault. He is coached by Anatoly Yarmovsky at TV Wetzgau. Yarmovsky, who coached ’80 Olympic all-around champion Alexander Dityatin of Russia, is married to Khokhlova.

BORN IN OCTOBER

Ross Brewer GBR ......................10/1/79
Prashanth Sellathurai AUS ...........10/1/86
Jair Lynch USA .........................10/2/71
Yann Cucherat FRA ....................10/2/79
Alexander Vorobyov UKR .............10/5/84
Charlotte Mackie CAN .................10/6/93
Yekaterina Kurbatova RUS............10/7/92
Matteo Morandi I TA ....................10/8/81
Sergei Khorokhordin RUS.............10/9/85
Maxi Gnauck GER.....................10/10/64
Sawao Kato JPN ......................10/11/46
Julianne McNamara USA............10/11/65
Yuri Chechi ITA........................10/11/69
Ariella Käslin SUI.....................10/11/87
Sam Mikulak USA ....................10/13/92
Nikolai Andrianov RUS ..............10/14/52
Dmitry Kasperovich BLR.............10/15/77
Fieke Willems NED...................10/18/82
Youna Dufournet FRA ................10/19/93
Ksenia Semyonova RUS .............10/20/92
Yana Demyanchuk UKR..............10/21/93
Anna Myzdrikova RUS ...............10/22/92
Kyla Ross USA ........................10/24/96
Fabian Hambüchen GER.............10/25/87
Olga Bicherova RUS..................10/26/66
Miroslav Cerar SLO ..................10/29/37
Nastia Liukin USA ....................10/30/89
Danell Leyva USA ....................10/30/91
Regulo Carmona VEN ................10/31/80
Samuel Piasecky SVK................10/31/84

Women’s VT: 1. Jade Barbosa BRA 14.437; 2. Valeria Maksyuta ISR 14.025; 3. Adrian Gomes BRA 14.012. UB:1. Viktoria Komova RUS 15.65; 2. Jiang Yuyuan CHN 15.375; 3. Wu Liufang CHN 15. 35. BB: 1. Wu14.975;2. Maria Livchikova UKR 14.625; 3. Luisa Galiulina UZB 13.95. FX: 1. Livchikova 14.375; 2. Wu 13.65; 3. Daiane dos Santos BRA 13.425.

Men’s FX: 1. Diego Hypolito BRA 15.925; 2. Zou Kai CHN 15.75; 3. Eleftherios Kosmidis GRE 15. 40. PH: 1. Zhang Hongtao CHN 15.725; 2. Krisztian Berki HUN 15. 35; 3. Sergio Muñoz ESP 14.70. SR:

1. Eleftherios Petrounias GRE 15.90; 2. Luo Xuan CHN 15.75; 3. Yuri van Gelder NED 15.675. VT:1. Igor Radivilov UKR 16.162; 2. Anton Golotsutskov RUS 16. 15; 3. Hypolito 16.075. PB: 1. Wang Guanyin CHN 16. 15; 2. Mitja Petkovsek SLO 15.775; 3. Anton Fokin UZB 15.725. HB: 1. Zou 16.30; 2. Nicolas Cordoba ARG 15.425; 3. Muñoz 14.75.

Women’s AA: 1. Elisabeth Seitz 55.80;2. Kim Bui 55.45; 3. Nadine Jarosch 54.85; 4. Pia Tolle 53.80; 5. Anja Rheinbay 52.05; 6. Lisa-Katharina Hill 51.55. (Event winners were Oksana Chusovitina on vault; Seitz on bars and floor; and Tolle on beam.)

Men’s AA: 1. Philipp Boy 89.85; 2. Marcel Nguyen 87.95; 3. Eugen Spiridonov 85.35; 4. Andreas Toba 85.00; 5. Sebastian Krimmer 84.50; 6. Helge Liebrich 82.900. (Event winners were Boy on floor and pommel horse; Nguyen on rings and parallel bars; Helge Liebrich on vault; and Hambüchen on high bar.)

SEITZ, BOY TOP GERMANS

2011 European all-around silver medalist Elisabeth Seitz and ’ 11 European all-around gold medalist Philipp Boy took the senior women’s and men’s all-around titles, respectively, at the German championships, held Aug. 27-28 in Göppingen. Veterans Oksana Chusovitina ( 27.75, two events) and Fabian Hambüchen (56.15, four events) also performed well.

Pia Tolle and Helge Liebrich emerged as new German champions on balance beam and men’s vault, respectively. Born Dec. 14,

PORGRAS, KOCZI DEFEND TITLES

Ana Porgras and Flavius Koczi successfully defended their senior all-around titles at the Romanian championships, held Aug. 26-28 in Onesti.

Porgras narrowly outscored 2010 bronze medalist Amelia Racea for the women’s title. Third was Raluca Haidu, who placed sixth last year. Diana Bulimar, the 2010 junior silver medalist, finished fourth.

Three-time Olympic gold medalist (2004) Catalina Ponor did not compete on uneven bars, but she won vault and tied for the beam title with Porgras, who also won floor. Racea won bars.

Koczi celebrated his 24th birthday by winning his third straight title with 89.60 points. He was followed by Marius Berbecar (88.40) and Cristina Bataga (87.75), who finished second and third, respectively, last year as well. Three-time Olympian Marian D r a g u l e s c u placed fourth (87.00).