MELBOURNE - The Chinese gymnastics team entered into next week's World Cup in Melbourne has pulled out due to Australian government travel restrictions put in place to limit the coronavirus outbreak, organizers said Saturday.
The restrictions on foreign nationals traveling from China were introduced in early February and extended for another week on Thursday.
The extension effectively rules out China's participation at the Feb. 20 to 23 World Cup, which offers qualifying points for this year's Tokyo Olympics.
"It has been a very challenging few weeks for us all, but none more so than for the Chinese gymnasts and officials who have been training and preparing to come to Melbourne," Gymnastics Australia CEO Kitty Chiller said in a statement.
"I have been in regular contact with the Chinese Gymnastics Association and its President, who informs me all of their delegation are well and have shown no sign of infection."
"Despite this, we all have to respect the Australian Government's travel restrictions."
Among the 12 Chinese entries listed on the World Cup's website are 4-time world champion Zhang Chenglong, who claimed the men's team gold at the 2012 London Olympics and bronze at the Rio Games.
Zhang's Rio teammates You Hao and Liu Yang will also miss out, along with Xiao Ruoteng, a former men's all-around world champion.
Chinese athletes in other sports have also suffered disruptions to Olympic preparations.
The entire Chinese women's soccer team and staff were confined to a Brisbane hotel for nearly 2 weeks due to quarantine restrictions after arriving in Australia in late-January for an Olympic qualifying tournament.
The coronavirus disease 2019 outbreak has killed more than 1,500 people, mostly in China's central Hubei province. Confirmed infections have risen above 66,000.
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American Simone Biles will look to extend her legacy as one of the greatest gymnasts of all time as she bids to tumble her way to an unprecedented fifth women's all around title at the world championships in Stuttgart.
The owner of 20 world medals, including 14 golds, the 22-year-old could end the championships as the most decorated athlete in the competition's history by topping Belarusian Vitaly Scherbo's record haul of 23 medals.
A year ago, the four-time Olympic champion won a medal in all six of the events open to the women, and few would bet against her replicating the feat as she remains the front-runner with just nine months to go to the Tokyo Games.
New moves that she debuted at the U.S. nationals in August, such as her triple-twisting double backflip on the floor exercise, could help her secure glory.
“I don't have anything to prove to anybody,” Biles told Olympic Channel in August. “I'm out there doing it just for myself this time... and see how far I can push myself.”
More than 540 athletes from a record 92 nations will be showing off their skills at the Hanns-Martin-Schleyer-Halle in Stuttgart, and both teams and individuals will have the chance to qualify for next summer’s Games.
The Russian men are primed for success in the all-around with the return of champion Artur Dalaloyan and 2019 European champion Nikita Nagornyy.
China’s Xiao Ruoteng, the 2017 all-around winner, will be seeking redemption after losing the tie-breaker in last year’s all-around final.
OLYMPIC QUALIFICATION
The Russian, Chinese, and Japanese men have already earned a team berth to Tokyo by placing in the top three at last year’s worlds in Doha.
The U.S., Russian, and Chinese women have done the same. In Stuttgart, the top nine teams that did not already qualify in 2018 will secure their Olympic spot.
Some of the top teams looking to punch their ticket for Tokyo include Canada, France, Japan, Brazil, Britain, Germany, and the Netherlands on the women’s side and the United States, Britain, Switzerland, Brazil, the Netherlands, and Ukraine on the men’s side.
A long-time powerhouse in gymnastics, the Romanian women will eye a spot in Tokyo after failing to qualify for the 2016 Rio Games. They had won a team medal at every previous Olympics since 1976.
Those looking to lay down the marker before Tokyo include 2018 apparatus champions Nina Derwael of Belgium on the asymmetric bars and China’s Liu Tingting on balance beam.
Derwael’s bar work stands out due to her extreme difficulty, but she will be tested by American Sunisa Lee.
France's Melanie de Jesus dos Santos will also be hoping to be in the mix after her all around triumph at the European championships.
Russia’s Angelina Melnikova will return after narrowly missing medals in Doha on floor and in the all around, while Uzbekistan's Oksana Chusovitina will be out to prove that life as a top level gymnast can go on and on as she will be competing in her 17th world championships aged 44.
Flying Dutchman Epke Zonderland always puts on a show in the horizontal bar will be determined to add to his haul of six world medals in the event.
Japan will be missing some top athletes due to injury, including six-time world all around champion Kohei Uchimura on the men’s side. For the women, Mai Murakami, floor champion at 2017 worlds and all-around runner up in Doha, is also sidelined.
The competition will run from Oct. 5 to Oct. 13.
(Editing by Pritha Sarkar)
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JAKARTA—Carlos Yulo looks to reap the fruits of a comprehensive three-year training program that made him decide to leave the Philippines and call Japan his second home.
The 18-year-old eyes history, as he aims to win the Philippines’ first-ever gold medal in artistic gymnastics in the 2018 Asian Games at Jakarta International Expo Hall.
On Monday, Yulo topped the preliminary round of the floor exercises competition, giving him a berth in the medal stage on Thursday.
The final is scheduled to start at 4 p.m. (5 p.m. in Manila).
The two-time Palarong Pambasa champion has been training in Japan the past three years, a program that required Yulo to practice eight hours a day, six days a week, under coach Munehiro Kugimiya, with the assistance of the Japanese Gymnastics Federation, which is helping him to qualify for the 2020 Tokyo Olympics.
Yulo is one of a few elite Filipino athletes being supported by Siklab Foundation and the MVP Sports Foundation.
Yulo, who came in eighth in the men’s all-around with a score of 80.750, an event dominated by China on Monday, burst into the international scene early this year with top-3 finishes in 3 legs of the 2018 Artistic Gymnastics World Cup Series organized by the International Gymnastics Federation, the sport's world governing body.
He won a bronze medal in the vault event in Melbourne; a vault silver in Baku, Azerbaijan; and a floor silver in Doha, Qatar.
Lone Pinoy bet confident in sport-climbing
In Palembang, meanwhile, Gerard Verosil was upbeat about his chances in sport climbing at Jakabaring Sports City, a discipline that's debuting in these Games.
“Mahirap pong mag-prediksiyon. Basta confident po akong magpe-perform ng maayos dito,” said Verosil, the only Filipino entry in the field of 34.
The 17-year-old is fresh off a semifinal finish in the Asian Cup Bouldering and Speed event in Bangkok in June, which served as his tune-up for the Asian Games.
Competitors will take on a 12-meter wall during the four-day competition.
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Filipino gymnast Carlos Edriel Yulo reached the finals of the men's floor exercise and vault competitions in the 2018 Asian Games in Jakarta on Monday.
Yulo, who made his Asian Games debut at Jakarta International Expo Kanayoran Hall D, garnered the highest score in the qualification round.
He scored 14.500 points, besting Chia-Hunng Tang of Chinese Taipei (14.450), and Kakeru Tanigawa of Japan (14.400).
Yulo ranked fourth in the vault event.
He collected 14.150 points behind Wai Hung Shek of Hong Kong, Le Thanh Tung of Vietnam, and Agus Prayoko of Indonesia.
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