23. April 2018  
Tokyo, JPN  
Sport Aerobics

2018 Suzuki Aerobic World Cup

* f i g - -: Just like last year, reigning World champion Mizuki Saito of Japan stood on top of the podium at the FIG Suzuki World Cup though it was Vietnam’s Aerobic gymnasts who stole the show with two gold medals at the Ota-City Gymnasium on Sunday, April 22. The second event of the 2018 Aerobic Gymnastics FIG World Cup provided a weekend to remember for Vietnam’s gymnasts who took gold in both the Group and Trio events. Twelve months ago they had won silver and bronze respectively in Tokyo but now they climbed to the top of the podium in spectacular fashion to take their country’s first World Cup golds for five years ...

The Group of Le Hoang Phong, Nguyen Che Thanh, Nguyen Viet Anh, Vuong Hoai An, Tran Ngoc Thuy Vi had ranked fifth in qualifying on Saturday but came back 24 hours later to seize the gold medal with China in second and Bulgaria third.
For three of the Vietnam team – Nguyen Viet Anh, Vuong Hoai An and Tran Ngoc Thuy Vi – it was their second gold of the day after their earlier triumph as a Trio. Fourth in qualifying they now outdid their rivals with a score of 22.077. Hungary finished second with Russia ranked third following an unsuccessful appeal against their difficulty score.

Saito’s repeat performance
In the Individual Men’s event, there was a gold medal for the home crowd to cheer as Mizuki Saito edged narrowly past his old rival Daniel Bali. He and Bali, the gold medallist in the season’s opening event in Cantanhede last month, each finished with a score of 22.550 but Saito prevailed thanks to a superior execution score of 8.900 to the Hungarian’s 8.850. Brazil’s Lucas Barbosa took third place.

Russia’s Ekaterina Pykhtova won gold in the Individual Women’s event with Ana Maria Stoilova of Bulgaria taking the silver medal and Japan’s Riri Kitazume – gold medallist here last year and first-placed in qualifying – forced to settle for bronze.For Hungary’s Bali, there was a gold medal in Mixed Pair as he and partner Fanni Mazacs finished in front of the Bulgaria duo of Antonio Papazov and Ana Maria Stoilova and Vietnam’s Le Hoang Phong and Tran Ngoc Thuy Vi.

♦ World Cup Final Results:
> Men's Individual;   > Women's Individual
> Mixed Pairs         > T r i o s                   > G r o u p s