03. Mai 2003  
Groningen/Netherlands  
Artistic Gymnastics

Eight-Country-Meet in Groningen

In the metropolis of the Dutch north, in Groningen, will held a 'Eight-Nations-Tournament' of women's artistic gymnastics today and on Sunday (finals).
Host is the 'Royal Dutch Gymnastics Union' (KNGU), but its team have some problems, because the Dutch stars Verona van de Leur, Renske Endel and Monique Nuiten are injured. So only a Dutch B-Team will fight against the national teams from Australia, France, Romania, Spain, Ukraine, Great Britain and Canada.
All nations will use this competition as a welcome test event before the World champs in Anaheim coming August.
The competition takes place on the podium from Ghent (world champs 2001) which is places at the 'Official Supplier of the Olympic Games 2004', the Pegases Company Janssen&Fritsen's disposal. J&F will also support the online reports of GYMmedia coming weekend.
.... more information:
The city of Groningen in the north of Netherlands (175,000 citicens) will host seven nations for an international women's meet on May 3-4.
The 'Achtlandentoernooi' ('Eight-Country Meet') will pit the Dutch women against teams from
Australia, Canada, Spain, Great Britain, France, Romania, and Ukraine.
Canada was a recent replacement for the USA, which withdrew because of the war in Iraq. China is the second country to withdraw from in the Eight-Country Meet (SARS health crisis). The Chinese women's team will be replaced in the last minutes by Spain.
The Dutch team starts with:
Suzanne Harmes, Gabriella Wammes, Berber van Berg, Maira Kronen und Laura vn Lieuwen.
The competition will follow the 5-4-3 rule; each team will be made up of five gymnasts, with any four on one event, and three scores counting toward the team total. The event will feature both team (on Saturday) and apparatus competition (on Sunday).
The Royal Dutch Gymnastics Union (KNGU), which previously organized the 1987 World Championships in Rotterdam and the 1967 European Championships (for women in Amsterdam), is preparing to host the 25th European Championships for women in the Olympic year 2004 (April 29 - May 2) in Amsterdam, again.
The 'Achtlandentoernooi' will take place on the same podium, like the worldchampionships 2001 (Ghent).
The Sunday's apparatus finals will be carried live on Dutch television.