An Chang Ok of DPR Korea competes on the vault at the 19th Asian Games in Hangzhou, east China's Zhejiang Province on Sept. 28, 2023. (Xinhua/Cheng Min)
An Chang Ok of DPR Korea clinched two gold medals on the first day of gymnastics apparatus finals at the Hangzhou Asian Games.
HANGZHOU, Sept. 28 (Xinhua) -- An Chang Ok of DPR Korea stole the show on the first day of gymnastics apparatus finals by taking gold in both women's events - the vault and the uneven bars on Thursday.
Meanwhile, China, South Korea and Chinese Taipei each claimed a title in the men's events.
An scored 14.049 points in the vault with an unparalleled difficulty score of 5.6 for her second routine. Her teammate, Kim Son Hyang, secured the silver with 13.600, and China's Yu Linmin took the bronze with 13.533.
The 48-year-old legend Oksana Chusovitina of Uzbekistan narrowly missed out on the podium, finishing fourth with 13.383 points. She said she will continue to train and vie for a berth at the Paris Olympics.
"Now I have made it clear that I still need to improve to qualify for the Olympics, but I feel I have more energy than before," Chusovitina told Xinhua.
The 20-year-old An pocketed her second gold - on uneven bars with 14.266. Japan's Mikako Serita finished second with 13.933, while Zuo Tong of China took the bronze with 13.866.
Chinese gymnast Lan Xingyu competes in the final of the men's rings event. (Xinhua/Cheng Min)
China's Lan Xingyu scored 15.433 points to claim the men's rings title. Van Khanh Phong Nguyen of Vietnam finished second with 14.600 points, while Japan's Wataru Tanigawa grabbed the bronze with 14.300 points.
Coming out of the gate first in the final, Lan impressed the audience with his outstanding performance with unparalleled difficulty and execution.
"I was focusing on my routine so I could show my best to the audience," Lan said.
On the pommel horse, Lee Chih-Kai of Chinese Taipei performed a stable and fluent routine to earn the highest score of 15.500. Japan's Ryota Tsumura took the silver with 15.166, while the bronze went to Nariman Kurbanov of Kazakhstan who finished with 15.100.
South Korea's Kim Han-sol demonstrated precision and finesse to win gold in the floor exercise with 14.900. Zhang Boheng and Lin Chaopan, both of China, finished with the same score of 14.333, but Zhang took silver ahead of his compatriot due to a higher difficulty score. ■
