Chinese Teng, Japanese Kashima share pommel horse world title
( 2003-08-24 11:09) (Xinhua)
Chinese Teng Haibin and Japanese Takehiro Kashima scored an identical score
of 9.762 points to share the gold medal of the pommel horse at the 37th world
gymnastics championships here Saturday afternoon.
 Teng, who finished fourth in the 2001 worlds, came out first
for the top score, which survived the challenges of all seven other finalists,
including his teammate Xiao Qin, who fell from the horse during the routine for
a miserable 9.350 points.
"Parallel bars is my strong event and I have good skills in that event," said
Teng, "On pommel horse, I did my best and I did whatever I can do. This is my
first time as world champion."
"Duirng this competition, I had some surprises and some disappointments.
Overall, I think I did a good job," he said, "I feel I did my normal practice
routine. Winning the gold medal on pommel horse was a surprise for me. If Xiao
Qin did his regular routine he should score better than me."
Japanese Kashima said that "I'm so happy, this is my best routine. It was
more than I expected but I was aiming for gold."
Russian Nikolai Kryukov finished third with 9.725, while reigning world
champion Marius Daniel Urzich of Romania finished fifth with 9.650
points.
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