Li Xiaopeng back with good form

COTTBUS, Germany, April 11 (Xinhua) -- Sydney Olympic champion Li Xiaopeng, who had been kept away from competition for more than one year due to injury, turned up with good form at the gymnastics World Cup on Friday.

Li Xiaopeng stunned the audience by booking the first place in the qualifying round of parallel bars and the second place in the horizontal bar.

In his first event of parallel bars, the 27-year-old scored a day high 16.5 points of the event.

In the horizontal bar, a traditional shortcoming for the Chinese gymnast, Li showed two interesting flight versions: Adlerschwung 1/1 with Markelow instantly and Adlerschwung 1/2 with instant Tkatchew.

"These combinations were rare!" claiming the official website of the tournament.

Li notched 15.925 points, second to host gymnast Fabian Hambuchen, the gold medal winner in last year's Stattgart World Championships.

"I'm quite satisfied with my performance," Li told Xinhua after the competition.

"I'm here to get myself ready for the Olympics," he added.

Li was troubled by a long-time ankle injury and eventually had an operation in 2005.