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Ikeda top Canadian in qualifications at men’s gymnastics World Cup in Montreal
Posted Friday, March 5, 2010
MONTREAL -- Ken Ikeda of Abbotsford, B.C., the “old” man of the Canadian men’s gymnastics team, shows no signs of slowing down.
Ikeda, a nine-year national team veteran and two-time Olympian, topped the field on parallel bars and placed third on pommel horse in Friday’s qualifications at a men’s World Cup meet in Montreal.
Other top qualifiers were four-time world medallist Aljaz Pegan of Slovenia on high bar, Shusuke Kikuchi of Japan on floor and vault, teammate Kohei Kameyama on pommel horse and Ali Al Asi of Jordan on rings.
The top eight in each event compete in the finals on Saturday and Sunday.
Ikeda, 28, edged Japan’s Kyochi Watanabe on parallel bars for the best Canadian result of the day.
“My routines weren’t as clean or as smooth as they could be but hopefully I can improve the overall look in the finals and bump my scores up a little bit," said Ikeda.
Nathan Gafuik of Calgary, fresh from winning the all around title at Elite Canada last weekend, ran into problems but was confident he would bounce back in the vault and high bar finals.
“On high bar I made a mistake on a connecting move but decided to go for it anyway", said Gafuik, who qualified sixth for the high bar final despite crashing to the mat after attempting a release move.
“I’ll take it as a learning experience and clean things up in the finals.”
Other Canadians to qualify for finals were Jackson Payne of Edmonton on pommel horse and high bar and Kevin Lytwyn of Stoney Creek, Ont., on rings, parallel bars and floor.
In the women’s International Gymnix, also held Friday at the Claude Robillard Centre in Montreal, Kristina Vaculik of Whitby, Ont., placed first all around with a score of 56.750.
Cynthia Lemieux of St. Hubert, Que., was second with 52.725 points followed by Nansy Damianova of Montreal who finished third at 52.450.
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