FRIENDLY MEET: Ferrari with High speed ... , ... successful comeback of Catalina Ponor, good result of Kaeslin...

Vanessa FERRARI in top form, already...!

Swiss girls ... "forgotten" at the victory ceremony...
In a tournament of six countries in the central Italian harbour town of Civitavecchia - ROMANIA won the meet in front of ITALY and FRANCE, followed bei CZECH REPUBLIC, SWITZERLAND and EGYPT.

Allaround world champion Vanessa FERRARI won with a super score of 62,100 points. On second came NISTOR (ROU), followed by PETIT (FRA).
A big surprise was the fourth placed Swiss Ariella KAESLIN, who achieved the best result of her career...

Comeback of Catalina Ponor

The Romanian three-times Olympic champion, Catalina PONOR made a successsful comeback; the nearly 20 year old gymnast started at three apparatuses only and got top results at vault (14.40) and beam (16.300) and made a very good athletic impression some weeks before the world championships in Stuttgart, Germany ...

Painful incident...
It was a very well organized competition in a sold out arena and on a podium -
... but at the end the organizers forgot to compute the points and results of the Swiss team, Swiss girls ... especially the fourth placed Ariella Kaeslin with her best individual result of her career... who was also on the rostrum as third placed on vault... ?!

What a pity - otherwise and altogether it was a big event in a wonderful atmosphere...!

FRIENDLY MEET: Six Nations TOURNAMENT
- ITA - CZE - EGY - FRA - ROU - SUI -
- Civitavecchia, Italien, 21. Juli 2007 -

* T E A M R E S U L T S
1. ROMANIA        238,15   (VA 58,15; UB 60,20; BB 62,00; FX 57,80)
2. ITALY            234,20        (- 56,95; - 58,75; - 59,75; - 58,75).
3. FRANCE     231,45       (- 57,10, - 56,70, - 59,25, - 58,40)

4. CZECH REP.        221,15       (- 55,15, - 57,70, - 54,55, - 53,75).
5. SWITZERLAND   220,70       (- 55,10, - 55,40, - 55,50, - 54,70)
6. EGYPT                  136,05.             ( - 3 gymnasts, only)

* Individual ALL-AROUND
1. Vanessa Ferrari (ITA) 62,10    (VA:14,55, UB: 15,85, BB: 15,80, FX: 15,90)
2. Steliana Nistor (ROU) 59,80        (14,50, 15,90, 15,80, 13,60)
3. Marine Petit (FRA) 58,65               (14,45, 14,35, 15,20, 14,65)
4. Ariella Kaeslin (SUI) 58,55            (14,60, 14,50, 15,45, 14,00)
5. Annamaria Tamarjan (ROU) 57,95
6. Andreea Grigore (ROU) 57,90.

7. Silvia Zanolo (ITA) 57,70

7. Cerasela Patrascu (ROU) 57,70

8. Cerasela Patrascu ROM 57.700
9. Laetitia Dugain FRA 57.300
10. Cassy Vericel FRA 57.250
11. Lia Parolari ITA 57.200
12. Francesca Benolli ITA 56.500
13. Jana Komrskova CZE 56.500
14. Monica Bergamelli ITA 55.600
15. Jana Sikulova CZE 55.400
-- Sara Bradaschia ITA 55.300*
-- Gabriela Dragoi ROM 54.950*
-- Valentina Muollo ITA 54.500*
16. Nicole Pechancova CZE 54.300
17. Erica Morel FRA 53.700
-- Sandra Izbasa ROM 53.700*
18. Danielle Englert SUI 53.550
19. Mareskova Katerina CZE 53.450
20. Eva Verbova CZE 52.950
21. Margaux Voillat SUI 51.350
22. Israa Ahmed EGY 49.400
23. Sandy Effat EGY 47.650
24. Catalina Ponor ROM 45.650
25. Katheleen Lindor FRA 43.350
26. Emilie Le Pennec FRA 42.050
27. Daniela Daniela ROM 41.700
28. Yasmin Zimmermann SUI 41.400
29. Lucia Tacchelli SUI 40.850
30. Lorena Coza ITA 40.650
31. Martina Strnadova CZE 40.150
32. Farida Shoukry EGY 39.000
33. Laura Alzina SUI 38.550

*Apparatuses
* VAULT
1. C Ponor (ROU 14,750

2. D. Druncea (ROU) 14,700

3. A. Kaeslin (SUI) 14,600

3. F. Benolli (ITA) 14,600

*UNEVEN BARS
1. S. Nistor   (ROU) 15,900
2. V. Ferrari   (ITA) 15,850
3. C. Patrascu  (ROU) 15,350
4. J. Sikulova (CZE) 15,200

*BALANCE B E A M
1. C. Ponor     16,300
2. S. Nistor       15,800
2. V. Ferrari      15,800
3. A. Kaeslin 15,450

* FLOOR EXERCISES
1. V. Ferrari               15,900
2. V. Cassy (FRA)     15,100
3. A. Tamarjan           14,900
4. S. Zanolo 14,750

Swiss Center, named 'End of the Worl`'

*STV - some news from the Switzerland of artisitc gymnastics:
Following the happy gymnastics event, the Swiss Gymnastics Festival in Frauenfeld and the World Gymnaestrada in Dornbirn the next weeks will be dominated by elite sports in the form of artistic gymnastics.
Normally, in artistic gymnastics there are short holidays in July and August as well as basic training. However, because the Gymnastics WCh in Stuttgart, which are also the qualifying competition for the 2008 Beijing Olympics, will take place in the first week of September, the whole training programme has been rearranged.

WCh preparation camp using the proper WCh apparatus
From this week training will take place in Magglingen – mit exceptions – no longer at the Jubilee Hall, but at a large scale gymnasium called 'End of the World'.
>> New „Spieth“-apparatus was installed, which will later also be used for international tournaments n Switzerland. It is important for the the gymnasts - especially the young artistic gymnasts without a lot of international experience - that they can get accustomed to the dimensions of a large hall comparable to the Schleyer-Halle in Stuttgart where the WCh will take place.
The Swiss teams will be nominated after internal qualifications as well as on the basis of interntional competitions.
>> A dozen gymnasts have hopes of being selected for the men's team, which hopes for the 12th place and thus qualification for the Olympic Games in Stuttgart.

The Swiss WCh schedule:
*Men, Multinational Competitions:
- 04th August: Great Britain – Holland - Switzerland in Ipswich
- 11th August: Switzerland – Germany – Rumania in Schaffhausen
- 24th August: Switzerland – South Korea – Ukraine in Maienfeld

Internal Swiss Qualifying in Magglingen
(the two best results count):
- 18th July and 27th and 28th July 2007
WCH dates:
- Monday, September 3rd, 2nd division, 12.30 pm, (first apparatus: parallel beams)

World champion and title holder Ferrari - in action at the weekend

>> Amongst the Swiss women the choice is smaller.
Juniors born in 1992 also have a chance of being selected.
On Saturday (July 21st 2007) an interesting 6-country tournament will take place in Civitavecchia near Rome, in which the world and European champion Vanessa Ferrari will participate.

* Women, International competitions:
- 21st July: Italy – Czech Republic – France – Rumania – Switzerland - Egypt in Civitavecchia;
- 4th August: Czech Republic – Great Britain – Switzerland in the Czech Republic;
- 11th August Switzerland – Germany – Rumania in Schaffhausen
WCh dates:
- Sunday, 2nd September, 7th division, 2 pm (first apparatus: balance beam)

*Source: STV, Erwin Hänggi, Medienverantwortlicher Kunstturnen

Elyse Hoepfner-Hibbs

CANADA named Women's Worlds Team
2006 world bronze medalist Elyse Hopfner-Hibbs will lead the Canadian team at the upcoming World Championships in Stuttgart, Germany.
The world team, named after a selection camp in Mississagua, Ont., is composed of Hopfner-Hibbs and fellow 2006 world team members Marci Bernholtz, Alyssa Brown and Rebecca Simbhudas, as well as three first-year seniors: Nansy Damianova, Sydney Sawa and new national champion Kristina Vaculik.
The team will train for two weeks in Greece in August before heading to Stuttgart. An alternate to the six-member team will be named prior to the competition. In Stuttgart, the Canadian women will compete in the 10th and final subdivision of women's qualification.
Canada finished 14th at the 2006 World Championships in Aarhus, Denmark. The top 12 teams in Stuttgart will qualify full teams to the 2008 Olympic Games in Beijing.

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