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Post by Admin on Sept 23, 2019 20:21:55 GMT
Japan won its first group world championship in rhythmic gymnastics on Sunday, capturing the group 5 balls competition along with a silver in 3 hoops and 2 clubs. Japan's entry in the group competition, "Fairy Japan", won the nation's first silver medal in 44 years in the group overall competition at the worlds in Azerbaijan's capital on Saturday.  In Sunday's group 5 balls final, Fairy Japan scored 29.550 points to finish 0.200 points ahead of second-place Bulgaria. Russia was third. Fairy Japan came close to winning another gold in the 3 hoops and 2 pairs of clubs final, scoring 29.400 points, 0.050 behind Russia. Italy was third. |
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Post by Admin on Sept 23, 2019 22:45:53 GMT
Dina Averina underlined her credentials as the woman to beat at Tokyo 2020 with a near-perfect haul at the 2019 Rhythmic Gymnastics World Championships.  Her only blemish came in the hoop where she took bronze behind team-mate Ekaterina Selezneva and Linoy Ashram. Israeli athlete Ashram just missed out on the gold she craved in Baku, collecting four silvers and two bronze medals in an excellent week.  Dina's twin sister Arina won just two individual silver medals although one did come in the all-around where she just lost out to you know who. Russia also took gold in the other Olympic discipline contested in the Azerbaijani capital, the group all-around, claiming their fourth consecutive world title. Of the two Averina sisters, it is Dina who has had the greater success in recent times. Since Arina took the all-around title at the 2018 European Championships in June last year, Dina has been the more dominant of the two.  And just as she did in Sofia 12 months ago, Dina won five golds - including a third consecutive all-around title - although this time she added a bronze for her best ever World Championships. Arina fared slightly better than last year with two individual silvers rather than two bronze medals in addition to team gold. |
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Post by Admin on Sept 24, 2019 23:49:26 GMT
The pair do almost everything together, including interviews.
After their one and two in the all-around, Arina told reporters they had cried "tears of happiness that this long marathon is finally over. Now we can breathe out."
Having previously revealed their pre-contest ritual, Dina admitted there was real apprehension ahead of the final competition of the week.
She said, "We were silent today. Certainly we felt nervous. After all, it's the most important day. We tried not to bother each other."
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