UCHIMURA TAKES THE FIFTH
Three-time world all-around champion Kohei
Uchimura won his fifth consecutive all-around
title at the 66th Japanese championships, held
April 8 in Tokyo. Defending women’s champion
Koko Tsurumi placed seventh.
•Uchimuraextends Japanesetitlestreak
• Mustafinarisestotopat Russiannationals
• Hammendscomeback, willhitthebooks
Women’s AA: 1. Rie Tanaka 56.45; 2. Natsumi Sasa-da 54.45; 3. Yumi Iiduka 54.40; 4. Asuka Teramoto
53.45; 5. Yuki Uchiyama 53.20; 6. Yuko Shintake
53.05; 7. Koko Tsurumi 52.95; 8. Mai Yamagishi
52.35; 9. Yu Minobe 52.15; 10. Wakana Inoue 52.00;
11. Mai Murakami 51.30; 12. Sakura Noda 51.20.
Men’s AA: 1.Kohei Uchimura 92.65; 2. Kenya
Kobayashi 90.80; 3. Shogo Nonomura 90.05; 4.
Ryohei Kato 89.80; 5. Makoto Okiguchi 89.70; 6.
Jumpei Oka 89.20; 7. Kazuhito Tanaka 89.10; 8.
Hiroyuki Imai 88.55; 8. Shoichi Yamamoto 88.55;
10(t). Yusuke Tanaka, Yusuke Saito 88.35; 12.Koji
Yamamuro 88.00.
BY JOHN CRUMLISH
close, finishing fourth on floor and high bar,
respectively.
Competing in his first international meet,
Smith, 21, was born in Nottingham, England.
His father was born in Northern Ireland and his
mother was born in Ireland, making him eligible
for Irish citizenship. Smith represents Excel
Gymnastics Club in Celbridge, Ireland, and also
trains at Notts Gymnastics Academy in England.
He was selected for the boys’ junior elite squad at
age 8. Smith is coached by ’80-84 British
Olympian Barry Winch. At the Challenger Cup
in Doha a week after Cottbus, Smith again
placed fourth on floor.
Cordoba was born Nov. 20, 1989, in Alvarez,
and is coached by Juan Carlos Pinto. Cordoba
competed at the past three world champi-
onships, and finished 12th at the ’ 11 Pan Amer-
ican Games in Guadalajara. Also last year he
placed second on high bar at the Challenger Cup
meet in Ghent.
EIGHT NATIONS GOLDEN
Canada’s Brittany Rogers and Chile’s Tomas
Gonzalez were the only double medalists at the
Tournament of Masters, an FIG Challenger Cup
held March 22-25 in Cottbus.
Familiar names won most of the medals, but
lesser-known gymnasts Andrew Smith of Ireland and Nicolas Cordoba of Argentina came
Women’s: VT: 1. Brittany Rogers CAN 13.962; 2.
Anastasia Marachkovskaya BLR 13.875; 3. Claudia
Menendez ESP 13.737. UB: 1. Elisabeth Seitz GER
14.825; 2. Céline van Gerner NED 14.60; 3. Natalia
Kononenko UKR 14. 45. BB: 1. Vasiliki Millousi GRE
14.425; 2. Valeria Maksyuta ISR 14.175; 3. Rogers
13.525. FX: 1. Diana Chelaru ROU 14.375; 2. Luiza
Galiulina UZB 13.750; 3(t). Kim Bui GER, Dominique
BORN IN MAY
Robert Seligman CRO ..............5/1/86
Vera Caslavska CZE .................5/3/42
Tina Erceg CRO ......................5/3/88
Vasiliki Millousi GRE ...............5/4/84
Tim McNeill USA ....................5/5/86
Steven Legendre USA...............5/5/89
Kyle Shewfelt CAN ..................5/6/82
Eleftherios Kosmidis GRE ..........5/6/91
Kayla Williams USA.................5/8/93
Daniela Silivas ROU ................5/9/72
Mahmood Alsadi QAT...............5/9/90
Wong Hiu Ying Angel HKG........5/11/87
Zhang Chenglong CHN ............5/12/89
Danusia Francis GBR..............5/13/94
Amy Chow USA .....................5/15/78
Olga Korbut BLR ...................5/16/55
Georgia Bonora AUS...............5/19/90
Casey Sandy CAN ..................5/21/84
Tim Daggett USA...................5/22/62
Henrietta Onodi HUN ..............5/22/74
Yelena Shushunova RUS..........5/23/69
Sabrina Vega USA .................5/24/95
Jennifer Pinches GBR .............5/25/94
Alexandra Raisman USA..........5/25/94
Alexei Nemov RUS.................5/28/76
Huang Qiushuang CHN............5/28/92
Cheng Fei CHN .....................5/29/88
Hamilton Sabot FRA ...............5/31/87
