Doha, 21 March 2019 – The second day of the 12^th Artistic Gymnastics World Cup marked the end of the Qualification competition and in the next two days we will know the names of this year’s winners of this prestigious event Epke Zonderland (Netherlands) returned to the scene of his last triumph. Let’s not forget that it was in the Aspire Dome Arena that the “flying Dutchman” earned his third World title on the Horizontal Bar.

“It is good to be back in Doha”, Zonderland told the official website www.dohagym.com and continued “I have a lot of good memories by competing in this arena not only from the World Championships, but the recent World Cups as well. It is always a good organization and as an athlete you know you can perform well, when the organization is perfect. I was looking forward to coming here”.

The Dutch Olympic Champion in 2012 on this apparatus made it to the final of the Horizontal Bar by capturing the fourth score of the qualification (14.100). Another big name on this event, Croatia’s Tin Srbic was the top qualifier (14.333). While Zonderland did not make the final on the Parallel Bars, China’s Jingyuan Zou did and appeared very strong, earning 15.866 on a program with 6.6 difficulty score!  The race for first place on Vault final is going to be intense with Ukrainian Igor Radilov (14.916)… pushing Korean Hakseon Yang (14.900) in the second spot of the Qualifier.

Derwael and Carey shine on

 Nina Derwael is gearing for next month’s European Championships, where she  is in search for a second medal on the Balance Beam. The Belgian appeared again in top condition and was first on the Qualification competition with a score 13.566. She will first compete on the Uneven Bars final on Friday.

 In the meantime,  American Jade Carey is on a mission for another double victory in the World Cup series, in Qatar this time. After placing herself among the finalists on the Vault, Carey earned the top spot on the Floor with 14.000.

Two Italians, Lara Mori and former World Champion, Vanessa Ferrari will also compete in the final on Saturday.

 The results of the second day of Qualification:

MEN

 Parallel Bars

1.Jingyuan Zou (China) 15.866

2.Phuong Thanh Dinh (Vietnam) 14.733

3.Ferhat Arican (Turkey) 14.633

4.Andrei Likhovitskiy (Belarus) 14.600

5.Vladislav Poliashov (Russia) 14.500

6. Mitchell Morgans (Australia) 14.333

7.Vasili Mikhalitsyn (Belarus) 14.233

8.Matteo Levantesi (Italy) 14.233

Horizontal Bar

1.Tin Srbic (Croatia) 14.333

2.Milad Karimi (Kazakhstan) 14.300

3.Alexey Rostov (Russia) 14.133

4.Epke Zonderland (Netherlands) 14.100

5.Shudi Deng  (China) 14.100

6.Hidetaka Miyachi (Japan) 14.066

7.Randy Leru (Cuba) 14.033

8.Carlo Macchini (Italy) 14.000

Vault

1.Igor Radilov (Ukraine) 14.916

2.Hakseon Yang (Korea) 14.900

3.Artur Davtyan (Armenia) 14.849

4.Jorge Vega Lopez (Guatemala) 14.762

5.Christopher Remkes (Australia) 14.699

6.Marian Dragulescu (Romania) 14.616

7.Wei-Sheng Tseng (Taipei) 14.599

8.Giarnni Regini-Moran (Great Britain) 14.599

WOMEN

Balance Beam

1.Nina Derwael (Belgium) 13.566

2.Marine Boyer (France) 13.366

3.Qui Li (China) 13.300

4.Yumika Nakamura (Japan) 12.900

5.Hua-Tien Ting (Taipei) 12.800

6.Adela Sajn (Slovenia) 12.766

7.Soyoka Hanawa (Japan) 12.700

8.Aneta Holasova (Czech Republic) 12.666

Floor                       

1.Jade Carey (USA) 14.000

2.Marine Boyer (France) 13.200

3.Kim Bui (Germany) 13.200

4.Lara Mori (Italy) 13.166

5.Varvara Zubova (Russia) 13.066

6.Marta Pihan-Kulesza (Poland) 13.033

7.Vanessa Ferrari (Italy) 13.033

8.Coline Devillard (France) 12.833

9.Phoebe Jakubczyk (Great Britain) 12.833

On Friday (16.00 local time) the first medals will be awarded with finals scheduled for men’s Floor, Pommel Horse and Still Rings. The women will compete on Vault and Uneven Bars.

Here are the finalists:

MEN

Still Rings

Xingyu Lan (China)

Vahagn Davtyan (Armenia)

Artur Tovmasyan (Armenia)

Marco Lodadio (Italy)

Courtney Tulloch (Great Britain)

Samir Ait Said (France)

Ali Zahran (Egypt)

Ibrahim Colak (Turkey)

Pommel Horse

Chih Kai Lee (Taipei)

Harutyun Merdinyan (Armenia)

Kohei Kameyama (Japan)

Kaito Imabayashi (Japan)

Saeedreza Keikha (Iran)

Zou Jingyuan (China)

Filip Ude (Croatia)

Stephen Nedoroscik (USA)

Floor

Carlos Yulo (Phillipines)

Xiao Ruoteng (China)

Jonathan Vrolix (Belgium)

Alexander Shatilov (Israel)

Ahmet Onder (Turkey)

Rayderley Zapata (Spain)

Christopher Remkes (Australia)

Emil Soravuo (Finland)

WOMEN

Vault

Maria Paseka (Russia)

Jade Carey (USA)

Coline Devillard (France)

Alexa Moreno (Mexico)

Marcia Vidiaux (Cuba)

Marina Nekrasova (Azerbaijan)

Oksana Chusovitina (Uzbekistan)

Emily Thomas (Great Britain)

Uneven Bars

Nina Derwael (Belgium)

Yilin Fan (China)

Anastasia Iliankova (Russia)

Diana Varinska (Ukraine)

Kim Bui (Germany)

Jonna Adlerteg (Sweden)

Martina Rizzelli (Italy)

Yumika Nakamura (Japan)