Gymnasts eye qualification to Youth Olympic Games

KUALA LUMPUR: National gymnasts have the opportunity to book a place to compete in the Youth Olympic Games (YOG) in Buenos Aires, Argentina next October.

“The Asian Rhythmic Gymnastics Championship is one of the important tournaments to qualify for YOG, especially through the 16th Junior Rhythmic Gymnastics Asia Championship.

“After today’s qualifying competition, Rayna (Hoh Kai Ling) is our best bet to qualify for YOG. The qualifying marks for YOG are based on the qualifying round results at the Asian Championship and not based on the final day results,” said Malaysian Gymnastics Federation (MGF) secretary-general Jimmy Tan when met at Axiata Arena Bandar Sukan Kuala Lumpur, yesterday.

According to Tan, the championship would be the best platform for national youth gymnasts to evaluate their performances as those in the top seven would automatically qualify for YOG.

He added that the number, however, gave the maximum of one gymnast to represent one country only. After two apparatus contested today, Rayna dominated the hoop with 14,500 points while in the ball apparatus, the 15-year-old was fifth with 13,350 points.

Today, she will continue the challenge in the club and ribbon events.

However, Tan said MGF did not set any targets for the senior gymnasts as the tournament was also participated by Olympian gymnasts from several Rhythmic Gymnastics powers such as Japan, Uzbekistan, Kazakhstan, South Korea and China.

“The level of competition is much higher than the Commonwealth Games. Its tougher for our senior gymnasts,” he said.

The eight best gymnasts (junior and seniors) in each individual apparatus qualified for the final level of the overall individual apparatus on May 1 and individual apparatus on May 2. Meanwhile, senior gymnast, Amy Kwan Dict Weng, said that despite having to face a fierce competition, she was satisfied with her performance.

“After discussing with the coach, I retained the same routine as the Commonwealth Games. Initially, I wanted to add new elements into the routine but I changed my mind ... the routine will be used in the Asian Games,” said the 23-year-old gymnast.

In addition to Malaysia, this edition involves the participation of 18 other countries: China, Japan, South Korea, Uzbekistan, Kazakhstan, Mongolia, Krygystan, Taiwan, Hong Kong, Vietnam, Thailand, Singapore, Indonesia, Philippines, Qatar, India, Lebanon and North Korea.