— Photo: Sandeep Saxena

IN FULL FLOW: Kazakhstan's Aliya Yussupova performs during the rhythmic ribbon apparatus final.

SURAT: A second string Chinese contingent collected a total of 10 gold medals as the curtains came down on the third Asian gymnastics championship at the Indoor Stadium here on Thursday.

Ning He led the charge in women's artistic gymnastics, winning four gold, including three individual apparatus titles, while Kai Zou took the baton from Liang Fuliang, the hero at the 2003 championship in Guangzhou.

Zou capped his solid performance after having won the team gold and the floor title with another gold medal in the horizontal bar. Zou won the last apparatus final of the championship with 15.775 points.

Fuliang's bad patch continued as he failed to better his silver medal performance of Guangzhou, finishing fourth. In the last meet, Yernar Yerimbatov had taken the horizontal title ahead of Fuliang.

Japan third

The Japanese duo of Sano Tomoharu and Ryuta Nakazato did their country proud by winning the silver and bronze medals. Japan also finished overall third in the medals tally. China topped the table with 10 gold, five silver and one bronze. North Korea was second with three gold, three silver and four bronze medals.

Ri Jong triumphs

The day started with the men's vault in which there was no Chinese in the fray. Defending champion China failed to get into the top eight on the vaulting table to leave the field open for North Korea to dominate.

Ri Jong Song, who went out at the qualification stage in the 2004 Athens Olympics, edged ahead of his unheralded teammate Ri Segwang by a whisker to win the gold. The 24-year-old Ri Jong scored 16.363 points, while Segwang was a shade behind with 16.313 points.

Kazakhstan's Sain Autalipov earned the first artistic gymnastic medal for his country at this championship. In the 2003 Guangzhou championship, Kazakhstan ended with two gold and three silver medals. Yernar Yerimbetov was the silver medallist in Vault, but he stayed back at home to prepare for the all-important Doha Asian Games.

Gold for Tomoharu

Sano Tomoharu snatched the gold from China with a powerful performance on the parallel bars. Tomoharu logged 15.850 points to win Japan's first gold medal at this championship.

Zhen Dong Dong of China took the silver with 15.725 points, while his much-fancied compatriot, individual all-round champion Chen Yibing, faded to the seventh position.

China's Ning He continued her dominance in the women's artistic events as she added two more individual gold medals to her collection. Of the four apparatus's, Ning He won three and settled for a bronze medal in vault.

On the balance beam, Ning He failed to match her performance on the same apparatus during the individual all-around final, but was good enough to take the top spot with 15.525 points. Her compatriot, Bing Han was second with 15.100 points, while North Korea's Kim Un Hyang settled for the bronze.

Ning He chalked up 15.025 points with an elegant performance on floor later in the day. She was again in the front on a 1-2 finish for China, this time with Zhuoru Zhou. North Korea took the bronze through Hong Su Jong.

The results:

Artistic gymnastics: Men: Vault: 1. Ri Jong Song (PRK) 16.363, 2. Ei Segwang (PRK) 16.313, 3. Sain Autalipov (Kaz) 16.188.

Horizontal bars: 1. Kai Zou (Chn) 15.775, 2. Ryuta Nakazato (Jpn) 15.325, 3. Sano Tomoharu (Jpn) 15.150.

Parallel bars: 1. Sano Tomoharu (Jpn) 15.850, 2. Zhen Dong Dong (Chn) 15.725, 3. Yoo Won Chul (Kor) 15.400.

Women: Floor exercise: 1. Ning He (Chn) 15.025, 2. Zhuoru Zhou (Chn) 15.000, 3. Hong Su Jong (PRK) 14.050.

Balance beam: 1. Ning He (Chn) 15.525, 2. Bing Han (Chn) 15.100, 3. Kim Un Hyang (PRK) 14.875.

Rhythmic gymnastics: Ribbon: 1. Aliya Yussupova (Kaz) 15.725, 2. Yukari Murata (Jpn) 14.800, 3. Liang Yuting (Chn) 13.650.

Club: 1. Aliya Yussupova (Kaz) 15.750, 2. Ding Yidan (Chn) 14.925, 3. Yukari Murata (Jpn), Kyung Hwa Lee (Kor), Lai Ying-Tzu (Tpe) 14.725.

Medals tally (read as gold, silver, bronze, total):

Artistic gymnastics: China 10-5-1-16, North Korea 3-3-4-10, Japan 1-3-3-7, Chinese Taipei 1-1-1-3, Hong Kong (China) 0-1-0-1, Korea 0-0-3-3, India 0-0-1-1, Kazakhstan 0-0-1-1, Syria 0-0-1-1.

Rhythmic gymnastics: Kazakhstan 6-1-0-7, Japan 0-3-3-6, China 0-1-3-4, Korea 0-1-1-2, Chinese Taipei 0-0-1-1.

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