SUBDIVISION 2 / GRUPPE 2 (11.00 - 13.00 Uhr	ARM	RUS	SRI	MAS
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How good are the Russians really? 
That was the big questions before rotation 2 ?

Rotation 3:
Almost everything went according to plan for the Russians on vault. Only Yuri Tikhanovski failed to stand up his handspring-double front vault. Nemov's first routine of the championships. He scores a 9.475 for the vault that has his name. Vault wonder Alexei Bondarenko goes one better: His double Tsukahara has a start value of 10. His 9,725 are the highest score to date.

Rotation 4:
Bars start with a shocker for the Russian team: Yevgeni Krylov looses it on a gaint and falls off. Tikhanovski can just about hold on so at least he scores above 9 points.  Bondarenko has mistakes as well. Barely 9 pts in not enugh for a gymnast like Bondarenko who wants to contend for individual medals.
Niolai Kryukov is next up and falls over on a handstand. Then he finishes his double front dismount with a forward roll - disappointing 7,9 pts. Nemov is no better. The gymnast who has been dominating the sport for years looks bad on bars with bent knees and open legs. The judges are kind and spare him the ulitmate embarrssment with 8,825 points.

Rotation 5:
And the comedy of errors continues of high bar.  Yuri Tikhonovski pulls his Kovacs too close to the bar and has to restart. Georgi Grebenkov falls on his dismount. Now it is up to the experienced Nemov and Bondarenko to pull the team back up.With a spectatular display of release elements they do well enough.  Bondarenko shows a nice piked  Kovacs, followed by a layout Tkachev-straddled Tkachev-GIenger combination  for 9,337. Nemov almost delivers a carbon copy of this routine, just adding a layout Tkachev to his combination and another Kovacs. He competes his 10 SV routine very well. Just puts his hands down on his dismount. 9,425 for this really great routine is ok.

Rotation 6:
18-year-old Georgi Grebenkov gets the team off to a good start on floor. He competes with clean lines and earns a 9,137. Krylov and Tikhanovski on the other hand have a few problems. Bondarenko can be plesed with his 9,5 for a routine that includes a double - double and a nice Gogoladse to Fedorchenko combination. Crowd favourite Alexei Nemov is even more spectacular, frantically appaluded by the crowd. But he makes mistakes too: He sits down his double front at the end of a tumbling run and he struggles on a press to handstand. Only 8,887 pts in the end.
Thanks t the sympathies of certain judges, Russia takes a decisive lead with 217,384 ahead of Great Britain and the Czech Republic. Malaysia ranks in last place, even behind India and Sri Lanka.

Alexei Bondarenko is the individual leader with 55,074 despite his mistakes. Israeli Pavel Gofmann has climbed to second place almost unnoticed.(54,235). Yuri Tikhanovski and Yevgeni Krylov are third and fourth.

Conclusion:
The Russians should easily qualify to the team final despite their problems. Arkayev's troups should contend for medals if Nemov and Bondarenko find back to their original form and Kryukov and Krylov overcome their injuires. Unfortunately, this group showed that judges are impressed with big names and didn't stick to their ruthless scoring from the earlier round. Now it remains to wait and see how the judges will react to the unknown South Koreans who are competing in the next round.

 gymmedia.com