Japanese Tomita wins the Men’s title in Melbourne
 British
Champion Ross Brewer performed steadily on five pieces of
apparatus and achieved sixth highest score on Pommel Horse
(9.137) in the Men’s All-around Final, which took place
in Rod Laver Arena on Thurs, 24 Nov. 05
Unfortunately his P. Bars exercise had a major error and
a score of 7.737.
Ross has a very good chance of medalling in his third Commonwealth
Games, in the same arena in March 2006. He can feel proud
in having made the All-around Final and performed creditably
for Great Britain. His scores were as follows:
F-8.162 PH- 9.137 R- 8.037 V- 8.962 Pbars- 7.737 Hbar- 8.387
Total 50.422
JAPANESE SUPREMACY
 It
took a long 31 years for Japan, after the victory of Shigeru
Kasamatsu in Varna, Bulgaria, 1974, to celebrate their next
All-around World Champion.
The Osaka born Hiroyuki Tomita, 25- year-old student in
the Juntendo University, brought back pride to Japan, by convincingly
winning the 38th Men’s All-around title in Melbourne
on Thursday (56.698).
His Team- mate, also Olympic Team Champion from Athens 2004,
Hisashi Mizutori, further evidenced the Japanese domination
by winning the Silver medal with a score of 55.349.
Denis Savenkov from Belarus in taking the Bronze (55.112),
brought great joy to his nation who suffered so much in Anaheim
2003. There must be something in the air of Australia which
brings Championships honours 11 years after Ivan Ivankov’s
success (World title) in Brisbane 1994.
The Japanese have maintained the status of the All-around
gymnast and demonstrated those qualities necessary to master
each apparatus at world level.
Their artistry, virtuosity and risk gave a “true Gymnastics
experience” to a very large audience in the Rod Laver
Arena who responded accordingly.
After the first two apparatus it became clear that the fight
would be for the Bronze medal and this position changed continuously
between Khorokhordin (RUS), Savitski (BLR), Spiridonov (GER),
Selariu (ROM) and Martinez (ESP).
The 2005 European Champion Rafael Martinez (4th) lost his
chance for a medal on Pommel Horse with a score of 8.250.
Selariu, (6th), the 2005 European Silver medallist - on Floor
(8.325) and Liang Fuliang, (7th) who had a fantastic Chinese
community support, lost his chances on Rings, 8.212.
Sergei Khorokhordin, 16th in the Qualifications, had the
steadiest All-around competition outside of the medallists,
but was not rewarded highly on Floor and Pommels. However,
he showed his true worth and performed to the level which
he has achieved in the recent past (4th in Europe in June
and 5th in the World Student Games in August).
The Russian took the fifth place in the final ranking.
This was a truly great evening which has re-established for
many the true supremacy of the All-around competition.
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