RUSSIA, BELARUS GET FLOORED INJURIES HURT CHANCES ON MEN'S SIDE IN QUALIFYING.Byline: Ramona Shelburne Ramona Shelburne is an American sports journalist currently writing for the Los Angeles Daily News. Shelburne was born and raised in Los Angeles, California. She attended El Camino Real High School in Woodland Hills, California where she was a class valedictorian. Staff Writer ANAHEIM - There were plenty of cheers on the first day of men's team qualification at the World Gymnastics Championships The World Gymnastics Championships are held every year. Artistic World Artistic Gymnastics Championships have been held since 1903. Year Games Host City Country 1903 I Antwerp Belgium 1905 II Bordeaux at the Pond, but mostly there was a sick feeling. Dimitri Kasparovich, of defending world-champion Belarus, and Evgeni Krylov, one of Russia's top all-around competitors, both fell to the ground in pain with torn Achilles tendons Achilles tendon n. The large tendon connecting the heel bone to the calf muscle of the leg. Also called calcanean tendon, heel tendon. during the floor exercise. While Russia's depth helped them finish third Saturday, all but securing a spot in the 2004 Olympic Games Olympic games, premier athletic meeting of ancient Greece, and, in modern times, series of international sports contests. The Olympics of Ancient Greece Although records cannot verify games earlier than 776 B.C. in Athens, Belarus struggled to a disappointing seventh. But the injuries diminished their hopes of a medal in Tuesday's men's team finals. While the top 12 teams here qualify for Athens, only the top eight will advance to Tuesday's finals. Still to compete today in qualifying: China, the Sydney gold medalist; Ukraine, which won the silver in 2000 and the bronze at the World Championships in 2001; the U.S., the silver medalist in 2001; and France. The injuries to Kasparovich and Krylov, coupled with the news United States United States, officially United States of America, republic (2005 est. pop. 295,734,000), 3,539,227 sq mi (9,166,598 sq km), North America. The United States is the world's third largest country in population and the fourth largest country in area. female gymnast Annia Hatch Annia Portuondo Hatch (born June 14, 1978 in Guantánamo, Cuba) is a Cuban-American gymnast, who competed at the 2004 Olympics. Hatch began gymnastics in her native Cuba at the age of five. tore ligaments in her left knee during practice, marred what otherwise was a smooth first day of competition. The Japanese men's team, which hadn't competed on a major international stage since missing the bronze medal by less than 0.20 points in Sydney, turned in the best performance of the day during the morning session. Its score of 227.046 gave the Japanese an early lead over European champion Romania (224.046). Japan sat out the 2001 World Gymnastics Championships in Belgium because of security concerns relating to relating to relate prep → concernant relating to relate prep → bezüglich +gen, mit Bezug auf +acc 9-11, and only one member of the current team, Takehiro Kashima, medaled at the individual World Championships in Hungary in 2002. ``We could have done better (in the past), but we just want to kick out the past. We feel very good about our chances this year,'' said Japan's Naoyo Tsukahara, who scored 57.224 and should be a favorite to medal in Thursday's all-around competition. Tsukahara's father, Mitsuo, won nine Olympic medals (five gold) from 1968-76. Also at stake in qualifying are places in the individual all-around competition and individual event finals. The top 24 advance to the all-around finals Thursday, and the top eight individuals on each apparatus advance to the event finals. Romanian Marian Dragulescu, who won two medals at the 2001 worlds, scored a 56.650 in the all-around and also should qualify in the floor (9.575) and vault (9.825). Teammate Marius Urzica, the reigning world and Olympic champion on the pommel horse pommel horse or side horse Gymnastics event for men. It uses a padded rectangular apparatus supported by legs and with two pommels (U-shaped handles) on the top. , scored a 9.775 Saturday and should again be the favorite in the event final. Among the biggest surprises was Canada, which made strides toward qualifying for Athens after a 220.617 team score. The Canadians were led by Kyle Shewfelt Kyle Shewfelt (born May 6, 1982 in Calgary, Alberta) is a Canadian gymnast. His gold medal in the men's floor exercise competition at the 2004 Athens Olympics was the first medal ever by a Canadian in an artistic gymnastics event and was the first Canadian gold of the 2004 Olympics. , who scored a 9.762 on the vault and a 9.637 on floor, and Alexander Jelkov, who scored a 54.999 in the all-around. Ramona Shelburne, (818) 713-3617 ramona.shelburne(at)dailynews.com CAPTION(S): photo, box Photo: Russia's Evgeni Krylov crawls off the mat Saturday night after tearing his Achilles tendon during the floor exercise. Kim D. Johnson/Associated Press Box: AT A GLANCE |
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