Tankusheva, Batinkov Best at Bulgarian Nationals

Nikolina Tankusheva

Olympic qualifier Nikolina Tankusheva picked up her sixth all-around title at the Bulgarian National Gymnastics Championships, held Saturday in Sofia.

Tankusheva (CSKA) scored 55.400 to take the title over Levski's Maya Hristova (51.800) and CSKA's Iliyana Sheytanova (51.300).

The Bulgarian women finished 24th out of 24 teams at the 2007 World Championships, their worst finish in history. Tankusheva earned an individual berth to the 2008 Olympics in Beijing.

In the women's junior competition, Ralitsa Mileva (51.100) earned an easy victory as the only gymnast who performed on all four apparatus. Stara Zagora's Dilyana Georgieva (33.800) won the silver over CSKA's Nikoleta Nikolova (30.800).

CSKA won the women's team title, scoring 149.350, five tenths ahead of Levski (148.850) and Chernomorsky Yunak (113.900).

In the men's competition, CSKA's Alexander Batinkov scored 85.300 to win the title. Ukrainian native Yaroslav Vovk, who moved to Bulgaria in 2004, tied Bogomil Koyumdzhiev for second (78.800).

Top Bulgarian gymnast Jordan Jovtchev — preparing for his fifth Olympic Games — competed still rings only.

2004 Olympic vault finalist Filip Yanev competed pommel horse, parallel bars and high bar only. He will soon undergo another knee surgery to remove the pins inserted in a previous operation.

The Bulgarian men finished 21st at the 2007 Worlds, tied with 2006 for their worst finish in history.

Chernomorsky's Velislav Valchev (79.600) won the junior title over CSKA's Pavel Manolov (77.650) and Angel Peychev (76.400).

CSKA won the men's team title with 257.800. Chernomorsky Yunak finished second (231.100) over Varna (158.700).

Jovtchev and Tankusheva leave Wednesday for a 10-day training camp in Thessaloniki, Greece. The two Olympic qualifiers will train on Janssen-Fritsen equipment, which will be used at the Olympic Games in Beijing.