African Jr Rhythmic Championships

Jr Women

1. Egypt
2. South Africa
3. Morocco

I was surprised at the number and quality of Junior competitors from across the continent, Muslim nations included.

Training apparatus is not quite so expensive as Artistic. A Rhythmic coach can find talent in Africa.

Post by 12th African Gymnastics Championships, Tshwane.

Jr Men’s African Championships

Despite many problems at home, Egypt arrived very well prepared. Unbeatable as a team with high start values and few missed routines.

1. Egypt
2. South Africa
3. Morocco

Jr results
via @SAGymnastics

Top 3 scores counted / team.

7 nations participated.

African Championships venue

University of Pretoria. Looks great.

African Champs venue

MAG and WAG can train in the attached TUCS gym.

Tuks

Rhythmic has a dedicated training gym. And there’s an additional small matted room available for stretching.

I have a media credential … but no internet access. Media is supposed to get “guest accounts” from the University. But all the guest accounts were gone by the time I tried to log-in.

What does a blogger do?

Walk to McDonalds to log-in. Rah USA. 🙂

Internet access in southern Africa is lousy.

Doha World Cup prelims

FIG:

Armenian gymnasts lead the standings in three events after the qualifying round of competition at the Doha World Cup Wednesday in Qatar’s capital city.

Exceptional form and high start values propelled Harutyun Merdinyan (Pommel Horse, 15.45), Artur Tovmasyan (Still Rings, 15.75) and Artur Davtyan (Men’s Vault, 15.175 average) to the top of the leaderboard going into Thursday and Friday’s final rounds.

2013 World Floor champion Kenzo Shirai used his Worlds routine — including eye-popping quadruple twist dismount — to post the highest score of the entire meet so far (15.85).

Meanwhile, Japan’s Yusuke Saito also had a banner day, with the best mark on Horizontal Bar (15.550), surprising Olympic champion Epke Zonderland (NED), who was second …

Romania’s Larisa Iordache looked strong on three events, hitting her notoriously difficult Beam routine for 15.0 (6.4 D-score) to take the lead. Though she struggled on Uneven Bars (11.65), Iordache was also the top qualifier on Floor Exercise (14.55) …

Surprises included Singapore’s Ashly Wei-Ning Lau, who qualified third for the Beam final (14.15), and New Zealand’s Courtney McGregor, who became the first woman from her country to land a double-twisting Yurchenko Vault. McGregor qualified second for the Vault final (13.95 average), while teammate Charlotte Sullivan sits fifth in the standings on Floor (13.2). …

Armenians, Romanians lead as Doha World Cup begins

Post by FIG.