27. July 2017  
Wrocław, POL  
Sports Acrobatics

2017 WORLD GAMES: Golden finish for Britain, China, Ukraine, USA

The first British gold medal in any sport at The World Games 2017 was delivered courtesy of four young acrobats whose show-stopping performance lit up Centennial Hall Wednesday night, July 26 in the Polish city of Wrocław. As the British rejoiced, Ukraine and the USA (double mini-tramp) savored their own golden moments, and a Chinese tumbling star who tied for gold four years ago at The World Games finally got to stand solo on the podium.

* Acro Men's Groups: The league of champions
During the past several years, members of Great Britain's Acrobatic Men's Groups have often stood on major podiums looking upwards at the Chinese, the gold standard in in this category of Acrobatic Gymnastics since 2012. However, Conor Sawenko, Charlie Tate, Lewis Watts and Adam Upcott got their moment Wednesday, as their crowd-pleasing final routine -- featuring flier Upcott mimicking answering a cell phone atop a human pyramid -- brought the house down. The medal was decided on the strength of superior Execution and Artistry scores by the British, despite an extraordinary display of Difficulty shown by Chinese world champions Li Zheng, Rui Liuming, Zhang Teng and Zhou Jiahuai, who took silver. Israel's Lidar Dana, Yannay Kalfa, Efi Sach and Daniel Uralevitch, the reigning World silver medallists, settled for bronze after two small slips marred an otherwise smooth routine.

* Women's Synchro: Ukraine rises, China falls
After finishing seventh in the qualification round, Ukraine's Nataliia Moskvina and Svitlana Malkova were not expected to take gold, especially with the likes of reigning World champions Li Dan and Zhong Xingping of China in the final. But a crisp, clean performance by the Ukrainians, coupled with an unexpected fall by Li that took China out of contention, gave Ukraine the title. Li and Zhong, The World Games champions from 2013, also finished seventh in qualification four years ago before coming back to win gold in Cali, Colombia. With a well-polished routine, Azerbaijan's Sviatlana Makshtarova and Veronika Zemlianaia bounded to silver, providing a memorable birthday for Makshtarova, who turned 23 Wednesday. What the Netherlands's Tara Fokke and Carlijn Blekkink lacked in Difficulty, they made up for with the top score of all pairs for Synchronicity, bypassing Russia and Japan for bronze.
* Source: fig press release
* USA and China were succesfully at the disciplines >>  Double Minitramp & Tumbling ...