December 10, 2008

World Cup Final: All Female Competitors Confirmed!

Finally, the wait and the guessing are over. The female lineup for the World Cup Final is complete, with all the names confirmed. The only guess still remaining is whether Daria Zgoba will do beam as she's slated to do; she's expressed some doubt on this score in the Ukrainian media.

Anyhow, according to the latest FIG release, Hong Kong's Wong Hiu Ying scooped up the final berth in the vault final, while Mexico's Elsa Garcia (who had earlier been confirmed on vault) accepted the invitation to show her floor exercise. Earlier, Holland's Sanne Wevers had claimed the final spot in the beam final, with Brazil's Daniele Hypolito accepting the final spot in the UB final. Hypolito will now be seen in three finals (bars, beam, and floor), which, along with Cheng Fei (vault, beam, and floor), makes her the most all-around of all the female competitors.

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Elsa Garcia, confirmed on vault and floor (photo: Jasmin Schneebeli-Wochner/Gymbox)

On the men's side, two spots are still to be confirmed (still rings and vault). We hope they'll be claimed soon, because time's running out - whoever is to compete in Madrid will have to get there soon!

Meanwhile, the FIG reports that the first teams have arrived in Madrid. Reportedly the Japanese team, consisting of Koko Tsurumi, Yosuke Hoshi, exciting newcomer Kohei Uchimura and soon-to-be retiree Hiroyuki Tomita, was the first to set foot in the competition arena. Some eighty journalists and photographers will be on hand to cover their (and other competitors') performances - a record for a competition of this scale, or so the FIG would have us believe.

Apparently Universal Sports is offering video-on-demand coverage of the event. Might be worth checking out if, like ourselves, you live in a place where the finals won't be shown on TV.

2 comments:

  1. Great blog ladies. The info and translations are priceless! Keep up the good work.

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