XIAO (CHN) Forgets Worlds Heartache to Grab All-around Gold

WUHAN (CHN) - Just a week after finishing an agonizing fourth in the all-around competition at the 2019 World Championships, XIAO Ruoteng (CHN) battled his way to the first-ever men's artistic gymnastics all-around gold medal at the 7th CISM Military World Games.

Mental strength was the key to his performance at the Hubei Olympic Center Gymnasium on October 21.

"There was a very short interval between the two events so it was important to stay focused and to get back again. The most important in order to achieve this gold medal, has been my mentality," XIAO said.

The Chinese gymnast, who became the men's all-around world champion in 2017 and took silver in 2018, started his quest for gold with a mistake on his first event, the pommel horse.

"After that, I recovered and did very well on the other [five] apparatus," he said. "I told myself to forget about the mistake and to adjust for the next event. That way, I managed to recover quickly."

XIAO finished two points ahead of his teammate DENG Shudi, the 2017 world bronze medal winner in the all-around. Caio SOUZA (BRA), the 2019 Pan American Champion, took the bronze after the two-per-country rule left China's CAI Weifeng, who originally finished in third place, without a medal.

"This medal is very important to me, because the competition is very hard. It will help me to continue training and to get better and better. That eventually will also help our team to become stronger," SOUZA said.

Gold and silver medal winners XIAO and DENG also led the Chinese squad to first place in the team competition, qualifying them for Wednesday's team final. There they will face second-place finisher Brazil, third place DPR Korea and fourth-place India.

The top eight gymnasts on each of the six apparatus, with a maximum of two per country, are qualified for the individual apparatus finals, that will take place on October 25 and 26.

(Source : SUMOC Executive Committee - Editor NIE Yang)