China’s Zhang Boheng reacts after winning the men’s all-around final during the Artistic Gymnastics World Championships at the Kitakyushu City Gymnasium in Kitakyushu, Fukuoka prefecture on October 22, 2021. — AFP pic
KITAKYUSHU, Oct 22 — China’s Zhang Boheng won the men’s all-around title at the world gymnastics championships today, edging out Olympic champion Daiki Hashimoto on his home turf in Japan.
Zhang, who was controversially omitted from his country’s team for the Tokyo Games, came through a tight contest in Kitakyushu that went down to the wire.
The Chinese gymnast held a slender lead going into the final apparatus — the horizontal bar that Hashimoto had claimed individual Olympic gold on just months previously.
But Zhang held his nerve to clinch victory with a score of 87.981, ahead of Hashimoto on 87.964.
Ukraine’s Illia Kovtun finished third with a score of 84.899.
Zhang became the first Chinese men’s all-around world champion since Xiao Ruoteng in 2017.
He was passed over for China’s Olympic team this summer despite scoring higher than rival Lin Chaopan.
Russia’s Angelina Melnikova won the women’s all-around title yesterday. — AFP