Olivia Tai (centre) shows of her gold and silver medal at the 13th Asian Junior Rhythmic Gymnastics Championship at the Putra Stadium in Bukit Jalil. — Bernama photo
KUALA LUMPUR: National gymnast Olivia Tai Qing Tong did the country proud by dancing her way to a gold and silver medal at the 13th Asian Junior Rhythmic Gymnastics Championship at the Putra Stadium in Bukit Jalil, here, yesterday.
Olivia Tai’s grace and mesmerizing moves overwhelmed the judges who awarded 14.500 points for the Clubs, the highest in the competition, to sweep aside favourite Yelizaveta Mainovskaya of Kazakhstan who managed 14.350 points for the silver while Anora Davlyatova from Uzbekistan and Takana Tatsuzawa from Japan were awarded bronze medals after scoring identical 14.300 points.
Olivia 15, added a silver medal in the Ribbon with 14.150 points behind Takana Tatsuzawa of Japan who collected 14.300 points while Anora Davlyatova from Uzbekistan was third with 13.900 points.
“The gold and silver is a pleasant surprise for me, especially after failing to win any medals in the Hoop. I’m happy to comeback in the clubs and ribbon events.
“This is team effort, coaches included. Now, I hope I can qualify for the Youth Olympics Games (YOG) in Nanjing, China in August,” she told reporters, here yesterday.
In the Hoop, Olivia Tai managed only sixth spot with a poor score of 12.750 points while Veronika Lyssogor from Kazakhstan took the gold with (14.600) points ahead of Nilufar Shomuradova from Uzbekistan (14.250) while Yelizaveta Mainovskaya from Kazakhstan (13.950) was the bronze medal winner.
Meanwhile, in the Group Apparatus competition for Hoops, Malaysia represented by Thew Yue Jia, Adelina Theresa, Chai Cin Nong, Chan Mei Thung and Yap Xin Lu managed a bronze medal with 12.517 points.
Uzbekistan took the gold with 14.250 points while China with 14.150 won the bronze.
In the Clubs, Kazakhstan took the gold with 14.583 points, beating Japan (13.593) to second place and China took the bronze with 13.450 points. — Bernama