"Gymnastics-Error-prone China fail to overtake U.S." -
http://au.sports.yahoo.com/061017/3/xn9y.html
Qualifying teams are: U.S.,China,Ukraine,Russia,Romania,Australia,Brazil,Spain
Team competition on Wednesday!
Top individual qualifiers: Defending champion Chellsie Memmel, Vanessa Ferrari and Jana Bieger
U.S. team wins qualifiers:
[quote]AARHUS, Denmark, Oct 17 (Reuters) - China's hopes of showcasing a spectacular array of skills were dashed by numerous spills on Tuesday as they failed to overtake the United States in women's qualifying at the world gymnastics championships.
The Chinese women had promised much this week, including performing innovative manoeuvres on the asymmetric bars.
Falls from every apparatus, however, kept their points total down to 239.525, trailing the Americans by 3.800.
"The Chinese team did okay. We are not disappointed," team coach Lu Shanzhen said. Ukraine sneaked into third place with 235.025 after Russia also put in a scrappy display to finish fourth.[/quote]
The Chinese women's team competition:
[quote]Keen to impress the judges before hosting the 2008 Olympics in Beijing, China began their quest for gold on their strongest discipline -- the balance beam.
When Li Ya fell off the wood twice it started a chain reaction among her team mates. Their crestfallen faces rapidly became a familiar sight on the final day of qualifying.
Zhou Zhuoru almost lost her footing while attempting a 360-degree pirouette and she did slip off just seconds later.
Despite the two mishaps, Zhang Nan, at 20 the veteran on the side, produced a sublime exhibition to earn 16.075. It was enough to take the Chinese into the lead after the first rotation.
FIRST PERSON
Daring skills and imaginative choreography peppered with crash landings became a familiar sight.
World champion Cheng Fei soared into the lead on her trademark apparatus with a 2-1/2 twisting vault while He Ning sat down on her landing.
Pang Panpan also ended up on her backside following her first tumble on the floor exercise, as Cheng again pulled out a stunning routine to score 15.475.
Li had been expected to become the first person to perform a move on the bars which she hoped would soon be recognised as the 'Li Ya spring'.
She looked to be in trouble the moment she mounted the frame, however, and after struggling to re-discover her rhythm she fell from the lower of the bars.
Hand on hips, she stared at the bar for what seemed an eternity before finally getting her wits together and completing the display.
Giving a strained smile to the judges, she rushed down the steps, head down, and slumped on to a chair to reflect on what had turned out to be a nightmare experience.
"Li Ya had a difficult routine, and today she fell. She is young, so she will have a chance next year," coach Lu said.
Zhang compounded the misery when she too lost her grip in the same manner, leaving no Chinese gymnast in the bars final.
The team leader also missed out on a spot in the all-round final after Zhou and Pang accumulated a higher total from their efforts in the four events.
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