Chinese gymnasts shine in Cottbus World Cup

COTTBUS, Germany, April 11 (Xinhua) -- Chinese gymnasts shone in the qualifying round of the Cottbus gymnastics World Cup on Friday, reaping four first places.

Sydney Olympic champion Li Xiaopeng, who had been kept away from gymnasium for more than one year due to injury, turned up with good form in his debut return in the international arena.

Li stunned the audience by booking the first place in the qualifying round of parallel bars and the second place in the horizontal bar, showing up a shining comeback in the international gymnastic arena.

In his first event of parallel bars, the 27-year-old posted the best performance in the event of the day, collecting 16.5 points.

In the horizontal bar, a traditional shortcoming for Chinese gymnasts, Li notched 15.925 points, second to host gymnast Fabian Hambuchen, the gold medal winner in last year's Stuttgart 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 Xiaopeng was troubled by a long-time ankle injury and eventually had an operation in 2005.

Li's teammate Zou Kai took the first place in the qualifying round for men's floor. Zou also sealed the third place in the horizontal bar.

For women's events, three Chinese gymnasts demonstrated excellent performance.

He Kexin took the first place in the qualifying round of the uneven bars, while Li Shanshan snatched the first place at the balance bar and Xiao Sha ranked third at the women's floor.

Unfortunately, however, their teammate Yang Yilin, bronze medalist from Stuttgart World Championships, crashed into another gymnast when warming up at the uneven bars and was not able to perform.

He Kexin clocked 16.800 points, 1.375 points ahead of the runner-up.

The gymnast, dubbed "the princess of crazy uneven bars" by her foreign fans, stunned the audience by combining excellent technique with a perfect body line.

"Jaeger-salto in direct combination with a 1/2 turn to radochlaroll, stretched ginger-salto, dismount tsukahara. Wonderful!" acclaimed the official website of the tournament.

Li Shanshan, who placed third at the World Championships in Stuttgart with a fall, presented an almost perfect routine this time.

She skillfully performed piked front somersault, acro series with four elements, aerial, free front handspring, somersault sidewards and a long dismount series.

Despite that she had problems in landing and almost fell against the beam, Li Shanshan still managed a total score of 16.000 points.