China’s Qiu Qiyuan, 16, grabs first Asian C’ships gold, wins individual all-around
Sign up now: Get ST's newsletters delivered to your inbox
China's Qiu Qiyuan beat older competitors to clinch the individual all-around title at the 2023 Asian Artistic Gymnastics Championships.
ST PHOTO: ARIFFIN JAMAR
Follow topic:
SINGAPORE – Game face on as she somersaulted, flipped and leapt through her routines at the OCBC Arena on Friday, China’s Qiu Qiyuan quickly reverted to teenager-mode off the mat as she took wefies with her South Korean rivals.
But the 16-year-old clearly meant business at the Asian Artistic Gymnastics Championships, clinching the individual all-around title with a score of 54.932 in just her second overseas senior competition. Compatriot Zhang Qingying (53.965) and South Korea’s Shin Sol-yi (53.499) were second and third respectively.
It has been a good year for the teen, who also won the uneven bars gold at the Baku World Cup in March.
Despite her triumphs, she admitted that there were still jitters competing against older and more experienced opponents.
The Fujian native said: “I’m still nervous, after all, this is my second competition. This time is different from the Baku World Cup – the World Cup is a single event, this is all-around, each has its own pressure, the feeling is different.
“The single event is only one event, but the all-around has three more events... more demanding.”
Qiu picked up gymnastics when she was four and has steadily risen through the ranks, progressing from her school team to provincial level, before getting the call-up to the national set-up.
With two individual titles in two senior international competitions, she is hungry for more.
She said: “It’s my goal to be on a bigger stage, such as the world championships and the Olympics.”
Qiu picked up a second gold on Day 2 as China won a fourth straight Asian women’s team title with 163.529 on Friday. South Korea (160.095) and Chinese Taipei (147.397) rounded up the podium.
South Korea and Chinese Taipei filled the remaining two women’s team slots for Asian countries at September’s world championships in Antwerp, with China and Japan having qualified as the top two sides from the continent from the 2022 world meet.
Having sealed their men and women’s team berths for the world championships, China did not send their best, but that has not stopped them from dominating the Asian event.
They have won three out of four titles, with the men’s team clinching a fourth consecutive gold on Thursday.
Meanwhile, it was double delight for Singapore as Nadine Nathan and Emma Yap both made the cut for the world event – the main qualifier for the 2024 Paris Olympics – after finishing 12th and 16th respectively in the field of 57.
Singapore’s Emma Yap finished 16th at the Asian Artistic Gymnastics Championships to qualify for her maiden World Championships.
PHOTO: LINEE YEO
Nathan recorded a season-best 48.832 all-around score to earn a fourth appearance at the competition – she competed in 2015, 2018 and 2022 – while Yap registered a personal best of 47.499.
While Nathan was closely tracking the scores after she competed on Friday, Yap did not realise she had qualified until others ran to her to tell her the news.
Yap, 18, said: “It was the first time I have crossed the 47 mark and I’m really happy. I just came into the Asian championships hoping to do a personal best, so qualifying for the worlds is really a bonus.”
The duo are looking forward to competing alongside the world’s best gymnasts in Belgium.
Nathan, 23, said: “It is a stepping stone towards the Olympics... The ultimate goal for the Asian championships was to qualify for the worlds because there are only so many places, so it was quite nerve-racking.”
