The Chinese WAG to attend the World Championships have been selected, we’re looking forward to seeing Yao Jinnan, Shang Chunsong, Zeng Siqi, & Huang Huidan. Let’s take a closer look…
Yao Jinnan:
Yao has the most experience of anyone on this team, being the only one to compete in a World Championships. She was quite successful at the 2011 Tokyo Worlds, bringing home a silver medal on balance beam and bronzes in the all-around and the team competition. Yao unfortunately was suffering from an injury during the 2012 Olympics. She finished 22nd AA in qualifications and did not advance to the final due to the 2-per country rule, and finished fourth in the team final and on uneven bars. Yao is an extremely balanced gymnast, and she is strong on every event. Most recently, she took home the Chinese national AA title with a score of 56.701. In addition, she was third on uneven bars and floor exercise while placing fifth on balance beam. Yao is definitely a frontrunner for the AA title this year.
Shang Chunsong:
Shang was the runner-up in the Chinese National AA this year. She also won the balance beam gold and the floor exercise silver. One of her biggest individual accomplishments was placing fourth at the 2013 Tokyo World Cup in April. (Without a fall on uneven bars, she would have placed second.) Shang is well-known for her beam and floor, and she has the potential to be in the World finals on both events. But don’t count her out in the AA, because she has stated in the past that she would like to become the Olympic AA champion!
Zeng Siqi:
Zeng was third all-around at this year’s Chinese nationals, scoring 55.335. She was seventh on balance beam, but has the potential to do very well on that apparatus in Antwerp. (Zeng won the AA at the 2012 Asian Championships with a 57.40 and won beam with a 15.30.) At the nationals in May 2013, Zeng placed fourth on floor exercise with a 13.934. In general, Chinese gymnasts have not always been top contenders on floor exercise, but this generation is much different. So many of the gymnasts now are doing well on floor, Zeng included!
Huang Huidan:
Like her Worlds teammates, Huang has done well as an all-arounder but also has a huge standout event: uneven bars. With a 6.6 D-score and wonderful execution, Huang has a great chance to qualify to the bars final–and win gold! She was seventh AA at the 2013 Chinese nationals and won the uneven bars silver at the 2012 Asian Championships. (She scored a 14.60 in finals, but led the prelims with a score of 15.40.)
Article: Anna Rose Johnson