27. March 2003  
Thessaloniki/Greece  
Artistic Gymnastics

Comeback: Ioannis Melissanidis starts again after a break of 18 Month

Ioannis Melissanidis (GRE)

The Greece superstar and Olympic floor champion of Atlanta 1996, Ioannis Melissanidis will start at the 4th World Cup of the 2003 circuit in his hometown Thessaloniki/Greece coming weekend to the first time after a break of 1 1/2 year. He plans to compete on vaulting table and on high bar. The competition hall named 'Ioannis Melissanidis Hall', but never before he took part in this stadium himself.
Coming weekend (finals on Saturday/Sunday/) the Greece host tests again the Olympic podium like one year before at the European Champs in Patras...
PARTICIPANTS, MEN:
Austria
Thomas Zimmermann
Belarus
Dmitry Kasperovich, Denis Savenkov, Alexei Sinkevich
Brazil.
Diego Hypolito, Mosiah Rodrigues
Bulgaria
Kiril Gizdov, Jordan Jovtchev, Radoslav Stefanov
Canada
Brandon O'Neill, Casey Sandy
China
Feng Jing, Li Dezhi, Xiao Qin
Croatia
Kris Marcek, Sasa Solar, Tomislav Markovic
Cyprus
Herodotos Giorgallas, Andreas Kousios
Denmark
Rasmus Brandtoft, Kasper Fardan, Tue Lodahl
Greece
Vlasios Maras, Ioannis Melissanidis, Dimosthenis Tambakos
Exhibition competitors: Christos Daskalakis, Christos Libanovnos, Charalabos Karbalis, Vasilis Tsolakidis, Leonidas Tzavaras, Alexei Xilogiannis, Giannis Zachariadis
Finland:
Jari Monkkonen, Jani Tanskanen, Ollie Torkkel
France
Florent Marée, François Ruffier
Germany:
Christian Berczes, Stephan Zapf
Great Britain
Kanukai Jackson
Hungary
Levente Fekete, Robert Gal, Roland Kiraly
Iceland
Runar Alexandersson
Italy
Albert Busnari, Igor Cassina, Matteo Morandi
Latvia
Eriks Revelinsh, Yevgeny Sapronenko, Igors Vihrovs
Moldova
Vasili Scuratcov, Andrei Chesnocov
Netherlands
Peter Geurts, Yuri van Gelder
Poland
Leszek Blanik, Roman Kulesza
Portugal
Filipe Bezugo, Manuel Campos
Romania
Marius Urzica
Russia
Alexei Bondarenko, Nikolai Kryukov, Yevgeny Podgorny
Slovenia
Aljaz Pegan, Mitja Petkovsek
Switzerland
Patrick Dominguez, Roger Sager, Roman Schweizer Ukraine
Alexander Beresch, Valery Goncharov, Roman Zozulya

(63 gymnasts / 27 countries)
PARTICIPANTS, WOMEN:
Belarus
Oksana Novikova, Tatiana Zharganova
Belgium
Aagje Van Walleghem
Brazil
Camila Comin, Caroline Molinari
Bulgaria
Gergana Ivanova, Viktoria Karpenko, Nikolina Tankusheva
China
Kang Xin, Zhang Nan
Cyprus
Elpida Michael
Greece
Dimitra Kastritsi, Vasiliki Millousi, Sophia Tsegkeli
Exhibition competitors: Maria Apostolidi, Stefani Bisbikou, Maria Mastroggiannopoulou, Marina Papadopoulou, Viktoria Tsakalidou, Kostas Barbakis,
Finland
Annukka Almenoksa, Jaana Palmu
France
Nelly Ramassamy
Germany
Katja Abel, Daria Bijak, Lisa Brüggemann
Italy
Monica Bergamelli, Ilaria Colombo, Maria Teresa Gargano
Netherlands
Suzanne Harmes, Verona van de Leur
Poland
Joanna Skibko, Joanna Skowronska, Malgorzata Skowronska
Romania
Oana Ban, Floarea Leonida, Monica Rosu
Russia
Svetlana Khorkina, Yelena Zamolodchikova, Natalia Ziganshina
Ukraine
Alina Kozich, Irina Krasnyanskaya, Alyona Kvasha
Uzbekistan
Oksana Chusovitina

(38 gymnasts / 17 countries)