06/12/14: Ukrainian Oleg Verniaiev and Romanian Larisa Iordache retained their World Cup gymnastics titles with dominant displays at the prestigious international event held once again at Emirates Arena. Both gymnasts have world class pedigree and proved that once again with near faultless displays across all apparatus, the capacity crowd showing huge appreciation for their skills.

Iordache is the World all-around silver medallist and her class was evident in Glasgow. Competing on the four women’s apparatus - , bars, beam and - she ended with a total score of 59.232 points to take the title with her confidence and style standing out in all routines. The silver medal went to of Canada with 56.432 and the bronze to Jessica Lopez of Venezuela with 55.899 points. Larisa said afterward: “I’m very happy to have won my title again in Glasgow. After competing in last week I was a little tired so am happy to have done another good competition and now I can have a rest and look forward to Christmas”

Britain’s Georgina Hockenhull showed tremendous composure and skill in her competition. The Team Wales double Commonwealth Games medal winner showed particularly strong performances on beam and bars giving her 54.398 points for a superb 4th place.

Georgie was delighted after saying: “I’m really, really pleased. I got a personal best all- around score today and went clean on all pieces. I had lots of good memories of Glasgow from the Commonwealth Games and the crowd were brilliant again today. I was a bit nervous waiting to compete but as the competition got going I calmed down and began to really enjoy it. Now I’m going on holiday then will focus on the British Championships at the start of next year.”

In the men’s event Verniaiev was dominant, having placed 4th all-around at the 2014 World Championships he mastered the six men’s apparatus - floor, pommel horse, vault, horizontal bar, high bar - for an unbeatable 91.598 points, an outstanding total that would likely medal at any major championships. The silver medal went to Yusuke Tanaka of Japan scoring an impressive 89.865 with American John Orozco taking bronze with 86.865. Oleg said after: “Once I got through my floor routine I gained confidence. Everything from then on was no problem and I got more and more comfortable. After winning Stuttgart and

Glasgow I will try to go to the final event in this World Cup series in America next year and win that too – who knows!”

The biggest cheers of the day were reserved for Scotsman Frank Baines, returning to the city in which he took Commonwealth team silver in the summer. Frank had a solid competition with his floor routine standing out as he totalled 84.332 for 5th place. For 19- year-old fellow Brits James Hall this World Cup marked a major step up in competition and he was eager to take his chance to impress. His competition wasn’t faultless but his overall performance amongst the illustrious line-up showed great promise scoring him 83.699 to finish in 6th place.

Women’s Competition

1 IORDACHE Larisa Andreea 59.232, 2 BLACK Elsabeth 56.432, 3 LOPEZ Jessica 55.899, 4 HOCKENHULL Georgina 54.398, 5 MURAKAMI Mai 54.299, 6 FERRARI Vanessa 54.032, 7 FASANA Erica 53.732, 8 SCHAEFER Pauline 53.365

Men’s Competition

1 VERNIAIEV Oleg 91.598, 2 TANAKA Yusuke 89.865, 3 OROZCO John 86.865, 4 KAMOTO Yuya 85.698, 5 BAINES Frank 84.332, 6 HALL James 83.699, 7 LIEBRICH Helge 80.099, 8 JUNIOR Sergio 14.700