Tingting clinches two gold medals on the final day

Having been labelled as the rising star of gymnastics, teenager Liu Tingting justified the tag yesterday by winning the two gold medals at the 10TH FIG Artistic Gymnastics World Cup in Doha.
Barely 16 years of age, Tingting made heads turn when she performed at the Aspire Dome on the final day of the championship. Despite being very short, the Chinese is sensational in her movements and that was on display in abundance yesterday.
She first struck gold in the Balance Beam, where Tingting was second last to perform. With Catalina Ponor, a triple gold medallist at the 2004 Athens Olympics, already occupying the top spot, Tingting needed something special to usurp the Romanian. And the teenager executed it to perfection, not losing her balance in the highly difficult apparatus, where not falling of the beam is essential. The Chinese star picked up highest execution score of 8.366 and a total of 14.466 to pip Ponor, who had collected 13.900 points. The third place also went to China with Huan Luo finishing on 13.700.
Australia’s Emily Little, who won a bronze at the Melbourne leg last month, came fourth (13.200).
“I am satisfied with my overall performance,” Ponor told reporters after collecting her silver medal.
“Tingting is a star in the making. She has been very impressive and I wish her luck,” added the Romanian.       
Tingting claimed her second gold of the evening in the Floor Exercise, her strongest and also most favourite apparatus. Twisting and turning like a spring, she performed brilliantly to amass 13.366.
Australia’s Emily Little (13.133) came second followed by Croatia’s Ana Derek (12.900). Uzbekistan’s 41-year-old Oksana Chusovitina, who won gold in Vault on Friday, was unable to produce any magic as she finished last (12.266) among eight finalists.
Tingting would have been delighted with her performance in Doha, having had to a difficult last year. The Chinese girl had missed out on Rio Olympics participation after suffering a hand injury while training on Parallel Bars. And she seems to making up for that misfortune. She had also qualified for the Uneven Bars final, but had failed to finish on the podium on Friday.
Meanwhile, China also won two of the three gold medals on offer in the men’s section. Zhou Jingyuan picked up his second medal in the competition, winning gold in the Parallel Bars. Zhou, who won a bronze in the Rings on the first day, collected an impressive 15.900 points. Germany’s Marcel Nguyen came second (15.066), while Switzerland’s Pablo Braegger finished third (14.800).
In the last event of the Championship, Ruoteng Xiao completed China’s domination, when he won in the Horizontal Bar with 14.533 points. Tin Sribic of Croatia took bronze (14.400) and Switzerland’s Christian Baumann silver (14.166).
Meanwhile, Vietnam’s Thanh Tung Le had a perfect landing to win the men’s vault final, where there was no Chinese participation. Tung Le scored 14.733 points, to push Armenia’s Artur Davytan, a crowd favourite, to second spot. Davytan executed his Vault perfectly, but could not match Tung Le and came second with 14.433 while Finland’s Heikki Saarenketo (14.366) finished third.
Around 240 gymnasts and officials from 30 countries participated in the four-day championship. Apart from the World Cup next year, the Qatar Gymnastics Federation will also host the World Championships in October 2018.       
RESULTS (FINALS)
Men’s Vault
1. Thanh Tung Le (VIE) 14.733
2. Artur Davytan (ARM) 14.433
3. Heikki Saarenketo (FIN) 14.366
Women’s Balance Beam
1. Liu Tingting (CHN) 14.466
2. Catalina Ponor (ROU) 13.900
3. Huan Luo (CHN) 13.700
Men’s Parallel Bars
1. Zhou Jingyuan (CHN) 15.900
2. Marcel Nguyen (GER) 15.066
3. Pablo Braegger (SUI) 14.800
Women’s Floor Exercise
1. Liu Tingting (CHN) 13.366
2. Emily Little (AUS) 13.133
3. Ana Derek (CRO) 12.900

Men’s Horizontal Bars
1. Xiao Ruoteng (CHN) 14.533
2. Tin Srbic (CRO) 14.400
3. Christian Baumann (SUI) 14.166