Nagoya (Japan), Sep 23 (IANS) China defended its women’s gymnastics team gold medal at the 2026 Asian Games in Nagoya on Wednesday, extending its dominance in the event to 14 consecutive titles.
The team, comprising Ke Qinqin, Zhang Yihan, Du Siyu, Zhang Qingying and Qiu Qiyuan, won the title with 166.462 points. Japan took silver with 165.362 points, with DPR Korea finishing third on 158.329.
China’s women’s gold follows on from the country’s men securing gold in their team event, reports Xinhua.
Japan struck first on the vault, where a landing error left China’s Ke with just 12.366, and Aiko Sugihara pressed the advantage with 14.066, putting China 1.9 points behind after the opening rotation.
China turned things around on the uneven bars. Zhang Qingying opened with a strong 14.033, and although Qiu fell off the apparatus, a 6.3 difficulty score still earned her 14.033. Du closed the rotation with the day’s top mark of 14.866, lifting China 0.799 points clear.
That lead grew further on the balance beam, where Ke steadied the team with 14.400 before Zhang Qingying delivered the standout routine of the night, a clean and fluent 15.066 that pushed China’s advantage out to more than three points.
On the closing floor exercise, China’s final two competitors held their nerve under pressure. Zhang Yihan recovered from a wobble on a turn to post 13.333, and 16-year-old Ke closed with a steady 13.133 to seal the gold.
Japan’s veteran Aiko Sugihara produced a crowd-pleasing, mistake-free routine on floor exercise for 13.966, but it came too late to change the outcome.
Du, 23, the oldest member of the team but with relatively little experience on the international stage, said after the event that she had simply tried to do her best and contribute what she could to the team’s overall score.
Qiu pointed to the squad’s unity as the key to holding off Japan, saying the team had leaned on each other whenever mistakes happened. “I think team spirit is the most valuable thing about this group,” Qiu said.
–IANS
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