SYDNEY, Feb. 25 (Xinhua) -- The 2019 Artistic Gymnastics World Cup thrilled crowds in Melbourne across the weekend with a number of close results and incredible feats of strength and skill, earning athletes precious qualifying scores for the 2020 Tokyo Olympic Games.
The Chinese team showed that they are in good form to be well represented on the podium in Tokyo, finishing the event in Melbourne with the highest number of new medals.
After two days of qualifying, the finals kicked off on Saturday with a nailbiting men's floor event.
Carlos Edriel Yulo from the Philippines claimed the gold medal with a score of 14.566 points. Behind him, however, tied on 14.500 were Japan's Hibiki Arayashiki, Britain's Dominick Cunningham and Spain's Rayderley Zapata. Luckily for Arayashiki, a better execution on the night saw him claim the silver, while Cunningham and Zapata shared the bronze medal.
After that, gold in the women's vault was claimed by Yeo Seojeong from South Korea, who represented her country very strongly at the event, earning a score of 14.266. Behind her was seven-time Olympian Oksana Chusovitina from Uzbekistan on 14.200, followed by China's Yu Linmin, who vaulted her way to a bronze medal with 14.083 points.
From there it was the China's time to shine, the country totalling four medals in the final two events of the day.
On the rings, Liu Yang held strong for gold with a staggering score of 15.166 which his teammate You Hao couldn't quite match, earning 15.133 and a silver medal. Behind them was Brazil's Arthur Zanetti with a score of 14.966.
And it wasn't just China's men who wowed audiences with their strength. On the uneven bars, former world champion Fan Yilin scored 14.833, ahead of her teammate Lyu Jiaqi on 14.366, earning the girls gold and silver for their country, while the home crowd cheered local Georgia-Rose Brown as she took bronze for Australia.
Then on Sunday, the final day of competition, it took China's Zhao Shiting incredible focus to claim her gold on the beam, scoring 13.566 to narrowly beat Australia's Emma Nedov, who took silver with 13.500 points. Bronze went to Japan's Mana Oguchi with 13.066 points.
The Europeans crowded the podium at the end of the men's vault, with Ukraine's Igor Radilov on top with 14.949, followed by Loris Frasca from France with 14.900, and Dominick Cunningham of Britain on 14.749.
The men's parallel bars saw another gold for China. After claiming second on the rings the day before, Hao You comfortably added a gold medal to his collection, scoring 15.066. Joining him on the podium were Turkey's Ahmet Onder and Ferhat Arican, who scored 14.633 and 14.366 respectively.
In the women's floor event, Italy's Vanessa Ferrari claimed gold with 13.600 points, followed by Puerto Rico's Paula Mejias with 12.533 and zhao Shiting taking bronze for China on 12.266.
The judges found it difficult to separate the men on the high bar apparatus which saw Hidetaka Miyachi from Japan tie with the Netherlands' Epke Zonderland on 14.733. However, Miyachi edged out his opponent by scoring 0.3 higher on execution points - a narrow margin but enough to put a gold around the Japanese athlete's neck. Not far behind them was China's Zhang Chenglong who came in third with 14.333.
The Gymnastics World Cup is an important stop on the road to Tokyo, giving athletes valuable practice on the world stage, as well as all-important qualifying points for the Tokyo Olympics.
