Top mainland gymnasts thrill in 'extravaganza'
'The Cheng' was missing, but despite the absence of the vaunted vault manoeuvre, the mainland's top gymnasts still thrilled the crowd of 12,000 at Hong Kong Coliseum with their exhibition yesterday.
The Gymnastic Elite Extravaganza, featuring a long list of world champions, including Cheng Fei, Zhang Nan, Yang Wei and Xiao Qin, presented a two-hour display of world-class artistic and rhythmic gymnastics.
Cheng, 19, is one of the mainland's major hopes for next year's Olympic Games in Beijing after she took three gold medals at the world championships last year - in the vault, floor exercise and the women's team event.
She did not try her signature move, a complicated and rarely attempted sequence, but she was still in a class of her own in a two-minute floor exercise full of speed and strength. Cheng also worked on the vault, and her 540-degree twist before landing received loud applause.
Head coach Lu Shanzhen said he was happy with the form of his charges ahead of the World Cup in Shanghai from July 25-30.
