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![]() With eight gold medals, Asian gymnasts dominated the finals at the 10th Doha World Cup, held Friday and Saturday in the Qatari capital. Pictured: Balance beam medalists Cătălina Ponor (Romania), Liu Tingting and Luo Huan (China) With eight gold medals, Asian gymnasts dominated the finals at the 10th Doha World Cup, held Friday and Saturday in the Qatari capital. The annual Doha event attracted more than 100 gymnasts from 27 nations to compete at the Aspire Arena. The competition is part of the current FIG World Cup event series, which began in November 2016 and goes through March 2018. The meet in Doha follows event competitions in Melbourne (February 22-25) and Baku (March 16-19). ![]() Liu Tingting finished fourth on uneven bars after falling on Friday, but came back and won both beam and floor exercise on Saturday. Luo Huan, second on uneven bars in Melbourne, won the gold on Friday with a nailed routine (Maloney to Pak; Van Leeuwen; healy, Ling Jie, piked Jaeger; elgrip 1 1/2; stuck double layout 14.433/6.0). 2016 Hungarian Olympian Zsófia Kovács, who qualified for all four finals, fell on her dismount but won the silver medal (Maloney to Pak; Van Leeuwen; giant blind to piked Jaeger; full-twisting double; 13.066/5.6) over Australia's Georgia-Rose Brown (13.033/5.3). Clad in an eye-catching black and fluorescent yellow leotard, 17-year-old Liu Tingting won balance beam with a gorgeous routine (front handspring, tucked front; switch ring to ff; front aerial, ring jump, Korbut; RO double tuck; 14.466/6.1). She followed it with the title on floor exercise, showing attractive choreography done with a smile (triple full, punch front; 2 1/2 twist; double tuck; 13.366/4.9). 2016 Chinese Olympian Wang Yan, the top qualifier on women's vault, scratched from Friday's vault final after reportedly suffering a minor foot injury on floor in qualification. final. Coached in Doha by 1992 teammate Svetlana Boginskaya, Chusovitina averaged 14.166 for her clean McIntosh (full-twisting handspring layout front) and 1 1/2-twisting Tsukahara vaults for the title. 2012 Aussie Olympian Emily Little won silvers on vault (14.099 average) and floor exercise (13.133/5.1). Slovenian veteran Teja Belak was third on vault (14.083 average). Seven-time Olympian Oksana Chusovitina (Uzbekistan) – who must have nearly as many World Cup medals as frequent flier miles by now – won women's vault in a close Romanian veteran Cătălina Ponor finished second on beam. She nearly fell on her Yurchenko mount (RO, layout on) but recovered well and hit the rest of her set (ff layout; switch leap, Kochetkova; switch ring; Onodi, split jump, Omelianchik; front aerial, ring; double pike with a small hop). Luo won the bronze (RO, two-foot layout; front aerial, split jump, Onodi, switch leap, wolf jump; switch ring; RO, double pike; 13.700/5.7). Czech twins Vendula Měrková and Adéla Měrková, who turned 16 on Thursday in Doha, finished sixth and seventh, respectively, on floor exercise. Vendula was also seventh on uneven bars. In the men's competition, China's Xiao Ruoteng, 21, and Zou Jingyuan, 19, each won one event. Xiao placed second on pommel horse (14.800/6.4) and won high bar (14.533/6.4), while Zou won parallel bars with an incredible routine, showing beautiful amplitude and a kicked out double front-half dismount (15.900/6.8). Zou also took third on still rings (15.033/6.2) and vault. 2012 Olympic champion Krisztián Berki, who skipped most of 2016 after failing to qualify for the Olympic Games, won pommel horse (14.933/6.2), his second title and third World Cup medal this year after gold in Melbourne and silver in Baku. Berki turned 32 on March 18. Armenia's Artur Davtyan (14.066/5.3) won the bronze behind Xiao. Taiwan's Tang Chia-Hung won floor exercise (14.366/5.8). Kazakhstan's Milad Karimi, just 16, won the silver (14.266/5.8) over Marian Drăgulescu, 20 years his senior (14.100/5.7). Top qualifier Pablo Brägger (Switzerland) fell to sixth (13.366). Top qualifier Artur Tovmasyan (Armenia) won still rings (15.133/6.2) over Ukrainian Olympian Igor Radivilov< (15.066/6.3). Vietnam's Le Thanh Tung won men's vault (14.733) over Davtyan (14.433) and Finland's Heikki Saarenketo (14.366), who moved up from seventh in qualification to take a medal. Three-time German Olympian Marcel Nguyen won the silver medal on parallel bars (15.066/6.2) ahead of Brägger (14.800/6.3). Croatia's Tin Srbić won the silver on high bar behind Xiao (14.400/6.2) and ahead of Switzerland's Christian Baumann (14.166/6.1). The 2017-18 World Cup series for individual apparatus continues May 12-15 in Koper, Slovenia. Additional events take place in Osijek, Croatia (May 18-21); Szombathely, Hungary (September 8-10); Paris (September 16-17) and Cottbus, Germany (November 23-26). External Link: Official Website 10th Doha World Cup
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