Sun Wei competes on the parallel bars during the men's qualifications of the 2023 World Artistic Gymnastics Championships in Antwerp, Belgium, Sept. 30, 2023. (Xinhua/Zhao Dingzhe)
Finishing eighth in the qualification, China secured its spot in the men's team final at the Artistic Gymnastics World Championships.
ANTWERP, Belgium, Oct. 1 (Xinhua) -- China finished eighth with 248.163 points to qualify for the men's team final at the 52nd FIG Artistic Gymnastics World Championships here on Sunday.
Having finished fifth after Saturday's qualifications, China underperformed again on Sunday, dropping to eighth place.
Japan topped the qualifications, with the United States and Britain finishing second and third respectively.
Sun Wei advanced to the men's all-around final in 14th place with 82.098 points. Tokyo Olympic medalists Liu Yang and You Hao will compete for the rings gold in the final, since the two veterans finished first and third in the qualifying round.
Su Weide in action on the pommel horse. (Xinhua/Zheng Huansong)
22-year-old Shi Cong and 23-year-old Su Weide qualified for the parallel bars and horizontal bar finals, with both finishing fifth, though You did not progress to the parallel bars final as expected.
"Shi Cong was slightly injured in the vault, so he did not compete in the floor exercise and gave up the all-around competitions. Likewise, I felt a bit short of energy after the parallel bars and horizontal bar, so I did not show up in the pommel horse. In cases like these, we only have three gymnasts in play most of the time and wouldn't have the fourth one in case of previous mistakes. That's probably the reason why we did not earn good score," said 31-year-old You.
"I believe my teammates and I will deliver better performances in the finals. We'll adjust really soon and won't change our goal of taking podium places or even overall wins. I hope we can enjoy the finals and perform at our best," said You.
The men's team final will take place on Tuesday at Sportpaleis, Antwerp. ■
