DOHA: Uzbekistan’s record eight-time Olympian Oksana Chusovitina lived up to her expectations after she qualified for the women’s vault final at the 15th FIG Artistic Gymnastics World Cup here on Wednesday.
The 47-year-old, who won bronze in Cottbus event last week, accumulated 12.899 in her combined double attempts with a difficulty and execution scores of 4.4 and 8.766 in the second that saw her finish fourth in the qualifier.
Egypt’s Nancy Taman became the first Arab gymnast to qualify on the first day after she second on the final standings of WAG vault qualifier.
France’s Coline Devillard, Romania’s Sabrina Maneca along with Denmark’s Camille Rasmussen also confirmed their respective places in the final.
Ruby Evans of Great Britain, who won silver last week at the Cottbus event, failed to qualify.
In the men’s Pommel Horse qualifiers, Nariman Kurbanov of Kazakhstan, who won a bronze at the Cottbus event last week, topped the qualification chart (15.1666.61).
Japan’s Takaaki Sugino, Ireland’s Rhys Clenaghan, China’s Yin Dehang, Australia’s Vedant Sawant, Ukraines’ Illia Kovtun, Taipei’s Yu-Jan Shiao and Kazakshtan’s Ilyas Azizov also made it to the finals.
Former world champion Carlos Yulo of the Philippines raised hopes of a medal on the Men’s Floor Exercise after the Tokyo Olympian (14.500) finished behind Artem Dolgopyat (14.600).
The 23-year-old showed he will be in his elements in the Qatari capital following his unimpressive start in Cottbus, Germany, where he could win just a bronze on the parallel bars.
Great Britain’s young gymnast Luke Whitehouse, who finished second on the floor in Doha last year, once again qualified.
Two Japanese — Kazuki Minami and Takaaki Sugino – also booked their places in the final. (dohagym.com)
