Tuesday 27 October 2015
Day seven of the World Gymnastics Championships sees the first of the men’s medals given out in the Team event. It is set to be an enthralling competition, with multiple countries capable of medal success.
The battle for the 2015 World Team title looks likely to be once again contested between Asian superpowers Japan and China.
Japan will be aiming to take the team crown after finishing in second place at the 2014 World Artistic Championships and should feel a degree of confidence, having qualified for this year’s final in first position.
Japanese superstar Uchimura said, the Japanese men are focussed but were surprised at finishing ahead of China in qualification: “We were focused only on our own performance. None of us even put our eyes on the screen and looked at the scores. After the competition, we looked at the scores and were surprised that we were higher than China.”
A number of mistakes in qualification cost reigning World Champions China, however they will looking to make amends and retain their Team title.
The battle for bronze is likely to be an extremely tight affair, with Russia, USA and host nation Great Britain all vying for a podium finish.
It could be a historic day for host nation Great Britain, as the men’s team look to secure Britain’s first ever World Team medal in front of a passionate home crowd. GB team captain Kristian Thomas said: “Getting the GB team to Rio was absolutely the number one priority coming in to these World Championships and we're all delighted to have got the job done.
“Every member of the team contributed and we go into the final knowing we have even more to offer to push for a medal. We're all loving being here in Glasgow. The arena is brilliant and the crowd went crazy for us, so we are hoping for more of the same tomorrow.”
Britain’s medal chances could be determined by the performance of 2014 World Bronze medallists USA. However with injuries to a number of leading faces leaving them somewhat depleted this year, their qualification round showed they have work to do. Both the United States and Great Britain finished 3rd and 4th respectively at the 2014 World Championships in Nanning, China.
United States gymnast, Paul Ruggeri III: “Obviously we are open for a medal. We know we have the potential. We just have to dig deep and pull it together. Great Britain, Japan, Russia - it can go any way and Switzerland is pretty close to us. We just have to pull out our top three scores on each event to make it happen.”