China's happy ending tainted by Feng's injury

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Last updated at: (Beijing Time) Wednesday, November 26, 2003

China's happy ending tainted by Feng's injury

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Feng Jing injured (2)

Feng Jing's accidental injury on parallel bars overshadowed China's carnival as they added nine gold medals on the last day of the second Asian Gymnastics Championships to seal an overwhelming victory.

On the five senior individual apparatuses Tuesday night, China triumphed in the women's beam, floor, and the men's vault as well as parallel bars while Kazak Yernar Yerimbetov won the men's horizontal bar. The Chinese junior team, however, swept all the five golds in the afternoon.

China altogether collected 26 gold medals out of a total of 28 after the four-day competitions, losing only on senior men's floorthe previous night and horizontal bar Tuesday.

Huang Yubin, head coach of the Chinese team, was satisfied withhis team's performance.

Feng Jing injured

"We planned to get 20 titles, but in the end we grabbed six more. That's beyond our expectation," Huang said.

"Our gymnasts did their best and we prove that we are undisputable No. 1 in Asia," he added.

China's glory, however, was impaired when 2001 world all-aroundchampion Feng Jing slipped off the parallel bars in a flipping maneuver.

The 18-year-old landed with his back hitting the floor and couldn't move himself with his arms straight up. He was later sentto the hospital after receiving on-spot treatment by the Chinese team doctor. It is said his injury was not serious.

"He seemed OK," said Feng's teammate Lu Bin, who watched Feng nearby when he fell down.

Liang Fuliang, the men's team and all-around winner on Saturday,awarded China the parallel bars title after the accident. He scored 9.675 points, narrowly overcoming South Korean Kim Dae Eun in 9.662 and Endo Masaki of Japan in third in 9.612.

World Cup gold medallist Lu and Asian champion Zhang Nan openedChina's winning streak Tuesday night on the men's vault and women's beam respectively. Lu scored 9.493 points to beat Yerimbetov by 0.018 although both of his hands touched the floor in his second attempt. Yemen's Nashwan Halder Al-Harazi was third in 9.337.

"I didn't worry too much even before my final score was given because I knew that my starting value is much higher than my opponents."

"Both of my two attempts have got the starting value of 10," Lusaid after the victory.

Zhang Nan beat her teammate Fan Ye, this year's world beam winner, to take the gold with a high score of 9.800. Fan swayed during her routine and scored 9.575 to finish second. Oshima Kyokoof Japan took the bronze with 9.337.

"Her steadiness won her the gold medal," Zhang's coach Liu Qunlin commented, "She did a very good job and most importantly, she has learned to cool down herself in the competition."

"I'm really glad to see that," she said.

Zhang Nan, who won the women's team and all-around titles on Sunday, also snatched her second gold of the day on the floor as she presented a stunning tumbling maneuver to score 9.587 points. Her fellow Chinese Wang Tiantian took the silver with 9.512, and Ishizaka Manami of Japan was third in 9.200.

Kazak Yernar Yerimbetov defeated Liang Fuliang again on the horizontal bar as he did on the floor on Monday. He scored 9.637 points for the top honor. Liang was joint second with another Kazak Gorbachev Stepan in 9.562.

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