[Asian Games] Men's artistic gymnastics: Japan dethrones China in individual all-around finals

Japan took down China's four-decade-long reign in men's artistic gymnastics, by sweeping the gold and silver medal in the individual all-around finals at the Namdong Gymnasium on Tuesday. This is Japan's first gold in the event in 40 years, after Kazuo Horide's gold medal in the 1974 Tehran Asian Games. By winning the all-around finals, Japan's Yuya Kamoto achieved a double crown in men's gymnastics. Masayoshi Yamamoto added another silver medal for Japan, and South Korea's team captain Lee Sang-wook brought the bronze medal home.

From Sunday's individual qualification and team finals, Japan, South Korea, and China each had two gymnasts qualified to participate in the individual all-around finals. All six athletes were placed into Group 1 according to their ranking in the qualification round. They began the finals with floor exercise in the first rotation.

China got off to a bumpy start, with Yang Shengchao landing his jumps unstably. Chinese gymnast Huang Yuguo managed well in floor exercise, taking second, but he fell behind in the next rotation, where he earned only 7.300 points for his execution on the pommel horse. Huang tried to catch up in vault, but he continued to lag behind after stumbling on his landing.

Japan, on the other hand, dominated the race from the beginning to the end. Kamoto built up to his gold medal by placing in first in floor, rings, and parallel bars. Yamamoto also secured his place on the podium, with the highest scores in pommel horse and vault.

An unexpected victor was Lee Sang-wook from South Korea. With a consistent performance that scored above 14.000 in all apparatuses, Lee took the bronze medal that even he himself had not expected.  "I did not really anticipate anything from today's match because there were so many good players. I just tried to focus on doing my performance well, without any desire for the medal," said Lee, adding "I actually felt like my performance today was the best in my entire gymnastics life."

Another competitor from South Korea, Park Min-soo, was expected to put up a tight game for a place on the podium, but did not fare so well. Ruptures of his right shoulder muscles and biceps hindered him from showing his prowess. His condition especially worsened after competing in ring during the third rotation, and led to a blunder while landing in vault, for which he got 0.3 points deducted. In the last two rotations, Park continued making mistakes, falling from both the parallel bars and the high bar. With a score 5.3 points short of his individual qualification result, he ranked 10th.

There are six more medal events left in men's artistic gymnastics. Individual apparatus finals for floor exercise, pommel horse, and still rings will take place at the Namdong Gymnasium on Sept. 24. Vault, parallel bars, and high bar individual finals will happen on the next day at the same venue. All eyes are on whether Japan will continue its gold-medal streak in men's artistic gymnastics.

By Kim Young-won (AGNS)