Japan saw off favourites
China and hosts South Korea to claim the men's team gymnastics gold at the
Asian Games on Sunday. The
Japanese were not at full strength but a fine performance led by Yuya Kamoto,
the 2010 Youth Olympics individual all-round champion, saw them to top spot.
Beijing`s golden boy Zou Kai outshone in the
floor routine by an unfancied outsider.
The
Chinese, who have dominated Asian Games gymnastics, with 123 golds out of a
possible 175 since the event was introduced in 1974, were beaten into third by
South Korea, let down by a patchy performance across the six disciplines.
The hosts had been targeting gold in
the team event, hoping Olympic champion Yang Hak-Seon would vault them to
victory.
But a
hamstring injury suffered this week meant the 21-year-old was unable to perform
his gravity-defying triple aerial twist "Yang 1" dismount.
Forced to
perform an easier vault, he came up just short of North Korea`s Ri Se-Gwang
despite comfortably outscoring his rival in the execution marks.
Japan, silver medallists behind China at the 2012 Olympics but without a single
member of that team present, were impressive in their consistency and showed
real class on the pommel and high bar.
The biggest
surprise came on the floor as five-time Olympic gold medallist Zou was outdone
by 23-year-old Shotaro Shirai, competing in his first major international
games.
