Duke Of Dundee wins Late Yousef Al Romaihi Cup PAGE 13 FRIDAY, MARCH 22, 2019 African body aims to Zonderland aims to fly high develop gymnastics despite perils: Zaatar again after Doha rebound Morocco’s Hossaini impresses on vault Dutchman makes high bar final; Derwael tops among women on balance beam TRIBUNE NEWS NETWORK VINAY NAYUDU Results DOHA DOHA MEN Parallel Bars THE president of the Afri- AS the 12 FIG Artistic World 1.Jingyuan Zou (China) 15.866 can Gymnastics Federation Cup’s qualifications came to a 2.Phuong Thanh Dinh (Vietnam) 14.733 Ali Zaatar, who is here to close on the second day of the 3.Ferhat Arican (Turkey) 14.633 4.Andrei Likhovitskiy (Belarus) 14.600 attend the 12th FIG Artis- four-day event at the Aspire 5.Vladislav Poliashov (Russia) 14.500 tic Gymnastic World Cup Dome on Thursday, the Neth- 6. Mitchell Morgans (Australia) 14.333 being staged at the Aspire erlands’ Epke Zonderland set- 7.Vasili Mikhalitsyn (Belarus) 14.233 Dome, was all praise for the tled into his zone making it to 8.Matteo Levantesi (Italy) 14.233 excellent organisation by the final of the men’s horizon- Horizontal Bar the hosts Qatar Gymnastics tal bar competition. 1.Tin Srbic (Croatia) 14.333 Federation, and the partici- Back to the venue which 2.Milad Karimi (Kazakhstan) 14.300 pation of athletes from the saw the ‘Flying Dutchman’ 3.Alexey Rostov (Russia) 14.133 4.Epke Zonderland (Netherlands) 14.100 African region. AGF President Ali Zaatar claim his third World title on 5.Shudi Deng (China) 14.100 Qatar has been host- the horizontal bar at the World 6.Hidetaka Miyachi (Japan) 14.066 ing the event for the last 12 was quite impressive in the Championships last October, 7.Randy Leru (Cuba) 14.033 years and Zaatar said there men’s vault totalling a score the 32-year-old 2012 Olym- 8.Carlo Macchini (Italy) 14.000 is no point talking about of 14.524 points to finish pics gold medallist reflected a Vault the standards of the meet 11th missing out on the final happy state saying he always 1.Igor Radilov (Ukraine) 14.916 in Doha for it is obviously berth by a narrow margin. looks forward to coming to 2.Hakseon Yang (Korea) 14.900 3.Artur Davtyan (Armenia) 14.849 world class. Abdulrahman, who Qatar. 4.Jorge Vega Lopez (Guatemala) 14.762 He was also happy that was hampered by an in- “It is good to be back in 5.Christopher Remkes (Australia) 14.699 the championship provides jury, meanwhile said he Doha”, said Zonderland soon 6.Marian Dragulescu (Romania) 14.616 a great chance for Arab and was proud to be competing. after his event. 7.Wei-Sheng Tseng (Taipei) 14.599 African gymnasts to par- “I am very proud to be the “I have a lot of good 8.Giarnni Regini-Moran (Great Britain) 14.599 ticipate and gain experience. first Libyan to represent my memories competing at this WOMEN “Even if the difference in country at the World Cup, arena not only from the World Balance Beam class of performance is stark he said. “Thank God, I was Championships, but the recent 1.Nina Derwael (Belgium) 13.566 2.Marine Boyer (France) 13.366 between the world stars and offered a technical level de- World Cups as well. It is al- 3.Qui Li (China) 13.300 those aiming to match them, spite suffering injury during ways a good organisation and 4.Yumika Nakamura (Japan) 12.900 the common platform pro- training which also made as an athlete you know you can 5.Hua-Tien Ting (Taipei) 12.800 vides a chance to excel and me change my movement. perform well, when the organ- 6.Adela Sajn (Slovenia) 12.766 7.Soyoka Hanawa (Japan) 12.700 learn and compete,” said I entered the tournament isation is perfect. I was look- 8.Aneta Holasova (Czech Republic) 12.666 Zaatar while speaking to the as I aim to be at the top of ing forward to coming here,” media on the second day of my focus in order to present he added. Floor the four-day World Cup. something to my country. He finished fourth on the 1.Jade Carey (USA) 14.000 2.Marine Boyer (France) 13.200 “There are African coun- “The competition here high bar in the qualification 3.Kim Bui (Germany) 13.200 tries that are interested in is very strong and the tech- with a score of 14.100. 4.Lara Mori (Italy) 13.166 gymnastics such as Algeria, nical level is also very high Another big name in the 5.Varvara Zubova (Russia) 13.066 6.Marta Pihan-Kulesza (Poland) 13.033 Egypt, Tunisia, South Africa with the participation of event, Croatia’s Tin Srbic was 7.Vanessa Ferrari (Italy) 13.033 and Nigeria, but the federa- international stars. But cer- the top qualifier with 14.333. 8.Coline Devillard (France) 12.833 tion is still trying to devel- tainly the high level is ben- While Zonderland couldn’t 9.Phoebe Jakubczyk (Great Britain) 12.833 op gymnastics despite the eficial to us,” he stressed. make the final on the parallel hardships,” he added. Mohammed Sulaiman al bars where China’s Jingyuan Epke Zonderland of the Netherlands during his horizontal bar routine on the second day of 12th FIG Artistic Gymnastics World Cup at the “Gymnastics is one sport Ramli, the coach of the Lib- Zou came up with a strong Aspire Dome on Thursday. where a small error can yan gymnastics team, also show earning 15.866 points make for the big difference praised Abdurrahman’s par- with a difficulty score of 6.6. holds and the improvement he old topped the balance beam between winning and los- ticipation. “Abdulrahman’s The race for first place in has shown. qualification with a score of ing. But the mere chance of participation was outstand- the vault final is going to be Mosa’s heartening per- 13.566. being involved in a competi- ing but we did not have any intense with Ukrainian Igor formance was watched by On Friday, she will first tion which has world stars luck. He was injured during Radilov (14.916) pushing Ko- Qatar Gymnastics Federa- compete in the uneven bars of artistic gymnastics is a training but his effort is a rean Hakseon Yang (14.900) tion President Ali al Hitmi final. indeed great gain for those matter of pride for all of us. to the second spot in the among others. USA’s Jade Carey, on a aiming to learn and reach “I am very proud of Ab- qualifier. Meanwhile in the wom- mission for another double in higher,” he stressed. dulrahman, who has been Qatar’s Ahmed Mosa was en’s section, Belgium’s Nina the World Cup series, placed Among many such ath- respected by everyone be- also impressive on the hori- Derwael in her first appear- herself among the finalists on letes who were in action on cause of the performance zontal bar as the youngster de- ance of 2019 continued her the vault. She claimed the top Thursday included Hamza level he showed despite the lighted home fans with a good good show on the balance spot in the floor exercise with a Hossaini of Morocco, Ahmet injury. Inshallah, Abdulrah- routine picking up 12.066 beam as well. tally of 14.000. Onder of Turkey and Abdul- man will have a good role points with a difficulty score of Aiming to make the Tokyo Two Italians, Lara Mori rahman Othman of Libya. in future events,” said the 4.3. While it couldn’t get him a 2020 Olympics and gearing and former world champion Hamza in particular coach. place in the final, it brought to up for next month’s European Vanessa Ferrari will also com- light the promise the gymnast Qatari gymnasts Ahmed Mosa on the high bar finished impressively. Championships, the 18-year- pete in the finals on Saturday. AFC U-23 CHAMPIONSHIP THAILAND 2020 QUALIFIERS Upbeat Qatar face Afghanistan for Thailand ticket today There are 11 groups and the 11 winners Nepal coach Bal Cobal de- and four best second-placed teams will scribed his side as the under- qualify for the Finals dogs of the group. “We are in a tough group and the least ranked among the teams but IKOLI VICTOR Qatar coach Albert Fernan- we will give our best,” Bal said. DOHA dez said: “Our target is to qualify “Football is unpredictable for the finals and we know it will so we are hoping to give our QATAR, powered by several be fierce among the teams be- best to get a result.” players who played significant cause it is the road to the Olym- There are 11 groups of four roles in their national team’s pics. I am happy some of our teams and the 11 winners and famed AFC Asian Cup 2019 players have had the Asian Cup four best second-placed teams triumph, should be confident experience and it will count for Tokyo 2020 will qualify for the Finals, with about advancing from Group A us.” hosts Thailand receiving auto- where they will host Afghanistan Responding to a question the target matic qualification. The Olym- at the Aspire Academy on Friday about Qatar being tagged as fa- “Our target is to pic qualifiers are restricted to in the AFC U23 Championship vourites, the Spanish tactician qualify for the finals under-23 players with three Thailand 2020 Qualifiers. said: “There are no favourites and we know it will be over-age players permitted at Oman and Nepal will because all the teams have open fierce among the recent finals.