Uchimura wins 9th nat’l champ’ship
Russian Kuksenkov positive for meldonium
London Olympic gold medalist Kohei Uchimura won a record-extending ninth straight Japan national gymnastics championship on Sunday,
Uchimura, who will be seeking to defend his all-around title at the Olympics in Rio de Janeiro, finished first with a score of 93,300 points.
Kenzo Shirai was second with 89.700 while Ryohei Kato was third with 89.400.
The 27-year-old Uchimura won despite not having one of his best days. He wobbled on a handstand on the rings and failed to land his jump in the vault but won the final apparatus, the horizontal bar, to secure the victory.
Mai Murakami won her first title in the women’s competition with 57.400 points, narrowly ahead of Asuka Teramoto (57.300).
European champion gymnast Nikolai Kuksenkov has become the latest Russian sportsman to test positive for the banned drug meldonium, local media reported Sunday.
“The sample which Kuksenkov gave for testing on March 15 showed the presence of the traces of meldonium,” the Allsport agency quoted Russia’s national gymnastics team head coach Valentina Rodionenko as saying.
Rodionenko added that the gymnast took meldonium last year, before the drug has been included into the World AntiDoping Agency (WADA) prohibited list on Jan 1.
The 26-year-old Kuksenkov, who competed for Ukraine before 2012, finished fourth in the all-round event at London Olympics.
He won the 2014 European championship and was the top Russian gymnast at the 2015 World Championships, finishing sixth in the all-around after joining the Russian team.
Meldonium was propelled into the headlines last month after Russian tennis star Maria Sharapova announced she had tested positive for the drug at the Australian Open in January.
Since then, a string of Russian athletes, including Olympic swimmer Yulia Efimova and figure skating Olympic champion Yekaterina Bobrova have admitted to testing positive for the drug.
Russian Sports Minister Vitaly Mutko said last week that 27 of the country’s athletes had tested positive for meldonium since the endurance-boosting substance was banned.
Russia’s scandal-ridden athletics federation -- suspended in November after a WADA independent commission found evidence of state-sponsored doping in Russian track and field -- announced four meldonium cases among its athletes earlier this month.
Moscow has vowed to reform its antidoping programme in time for its track and field stars to compete at the Rio de Janeiro Olympics in August.
Defending hurdles champion Sally Pearson and long jumper Fabrice Lapierre spearhead Australia’s medals challenge for the Rio Olympics in the Australian track and field team named on Sunday.
Pearson, 29, who won gold in the 100-metres hurdles in London in 2012, is about to resume competition for the first time since her compound fracture on the track nearly 10 months ago.
Australia’s top athlete broke two bones and dislocated her wrist in a tumble during the Rome Diamond League meet in June last year. Pearson also won a silver medal in the event at the 2008 Beijing Olympics and was world champion at the 2011 Daegu World Championships.
“We have experienced campaigners like Fabrice Lapierre ready to add an Olympic medal to his world championships achievements, and you can’t forget defending Olympic champion Sally Pearson,” said Athletics Australia head coach Craig Hilliard.
“Sally is worth her weight in gold. She’s been there and knows what it takes to win a silver and then step up to the top of the podium. (From left): Kenyan athletes Laban Korir (second), Cyprian Kotut (first), and Stephen Chemlany (third) pose with their medals on the podium after competing in the 40th Paris Marathon on April 3, in Paris.