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Men miss Olympic gymnastics spot

 

Men miss Olympic gymnastics spot

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AOC
Men miss Olympic gymnastics spot

The Olympic dream is over for the Australian men's gymnastics team following a disappointing performance in Monday's qualifying event at the world championships in Tokyo.

The Olympic dream is over for the Australian men's gymnastics team following a disappointing performance in Monday's qualifying event at the world championships in Tokyo.

Having entered the second day of qualifying hopeful of securing the top 16 finish required to keep their chances of booking a team berth at the London Games alive, the Australians stumbled at the worst possible time.

Their fate was sealed when superpower China, Korea and Belarus - all competing in the final group - finished ahead of the Australians.

They were eventually consigned to 18th - the same position they finished in at last year's world championships.

"The little things cost us," Australia's high performance manager Adam Sachs told AAP.

"There were some missed opportunities, some of the landings weren't as good as they should have been."

The top eight teams all advanced to the teams final on Wednesday, while those nations that finished 9-16 will battle it out for the final four spots in the teams competition at the Games at the Olympics test event in London in January.

Thomas Pichler was Australia's highest ranked All Around competitor finishing in 38th position with a score of 84.898.

The bright spot for the men was the performance of Prashanth Sellathurai, who came up with a brilliant routine to finish third in qualifying for the pommel horse final. Sellathurai won the bronze medal at the 2010 championships.

This year all individual medallists at the world championships also secure an Olympic berth.

Japan topped qualifying with 364.291 points, followed by the US with China surprisingly slipping to third.


Steve Jancetic
AAP

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