Zhang Chenglong and Feng Zhe added to China’s gold-medal tally by claiming two more titles on the final day of the world gymnastics championships in Rotterdam, Netherlands on Sunday.
Zhang, 21, took gold on the horizontal bar while Feng, 23, won the parallel bars title, to give the Asian gymnastics powerhouse four gold medals after nine days of competition.
Feng and Zhang also helped China to the team gold with Chen Yibing winning gold on the rings, as in total the Chinese men went home with six medals.
Their women’s team had less success, with three medals, taking team bronze with Jiang Yuyan winning all-around silver, and Deng Linlin failing to defend her beam title on which she took silver.
The tally was far from the nine achieved at the 2008 Beijing Games, but Chinese coach Wang Hongwei expressed his satisfaction at the outcome.
“We’re very satisfied with this result because the older members of the team are now gone,” said Wang. “We have new ones coming through and we’re in a transition period now.”
The final competitor, Zhang pulled out an acrobatic routine to score 16.166 points, much to the disappointment of the capacity crowd at the Ahoy Arena who had been vocal in their support of Dutch gymnast Epke Zonderland.
Zonderland had competed first but his score of 16.033 ensured he took silver for the second straight year as former champion Fabian Hambuechen of Germany took bronze with 15.966.
Earlier, Feng, last year’s parallel bars silver medallist, took that title by a 0.150 margin on teammate Teng Haibin with the bronze going to Japan’s all-around champion Kohei Uchimura.
It was the fifth title for China on the apparatus since 2002.
“Traditionally this is a strong apparatus for us,” said Teng. “We have a lot of experience and it’s one we like to win.”
Uchimura, 21, brought his medals tally here to four after defending his all-around title, and winning silver in the team and floor events.
Women’s all-around and team champion Aliya Mustafina failed to add to her titles on the final day as she won silver on the floor, but finished off the podium after a fall off the beam.
Her tumble ensured Romania returned to the top of the women’s world podium for the first time in nine years with 16-year-old Ana Porgras claiming her first world title ahead of American Rebecca Bross and defending vault champion Deng of China, who shared silver.
The 16-year-old Mustafina, however, accounted for five of Russia’s six medals which put them second to China on the medals table. She won two gold and three silver after finishing runner-up on the uneven bars, floor and vault.
Lauren Mitchell stole the show on the floor when she gave Australia their first ever women’s title at the worlds as Mustafina shared silver with Romania’s Diana Maria Chelaru.
Olympic champion Sandra Raluca Izbasa finished second last in the eight-woman final after stepping off the mat twice.
Thomas Bouhail gave France their first gold at the worlds since 1913 when the Olympic silver medallist won the vault title ahead of Russia’s Anton Golotsutskov with Dzmitry Kaspiarovich of Belarus taking bronze.
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