Japanese Junior- team with hat-trick in Berlin - GYMfamily EVENT -

XIII. INTERNATIONAL JUNIOR TEAM CUP 2008
- Berlin, March 1st  2008 -

Everyone who was asked about it mentioned the same: Qualitative and quantitative this competition is one of the best junior events in the World in men's artistic gymnastics!
Even team-Olympic champion JAPAN travelled to Berlin with a few of their best junior gymnasts and won the competition for the third time in a row. This year they came to Berlin with a younger team compared to the years before. They did not only present extraordinarily high start values in their routines but presented also a very good technique and execution.

With their second place the team from SWITZERLAND continued with the positive trend of the last years. In May they will be the hosts of the Junior European Championships and at this event in their home country they would like to win a few medals.
One of their most promising gymnasts today in Berlin was Lucas FISCHER who reached the second place in the all-around ranking and presented world-class performances in his age-group, e.g. with "Belle" on parallel bars or layout Jaeger, layout Gienger and a double-double dismount on high bar!

The team from SPAIN reached the third place - also for their team the positive trend of the last years continued. They were especially strong on floor, rings and vault - on the last two of these apparatus they reached the highest team scores of all 28 teams.
And they reached these good results despite of the fact that they had to compete with only three gymnasts (which means all of their scores counted for the team result) as one of their gymnasts injured himself during the training on the day before.

Belarus on the 4th place - this shows that the "Ivancov- country", which didn't manage to reach higher ranks at major international events during the last years, is getting better again. They presented the "typical Russian school" of gymnastics, that means a very good technical execution. Their team could become a suprise at the Junior European Championships in May.
"About one third of the almost 30 teams which competed presented themselves clearly improved. This means that this year's International Junior Team Cup probably took place on the highest level of performance of all Junior Team Cups since the beginning", mentioned Berlin's coach Jens Milbradt. That means: Everyone knows that they have to work hard until the Junior European Championships in May as there in Lausanne it will be a tough battle for the medals.