PARIS, July 27 (Xinhua) -- Zhang Boheng finished first in the men's all-around and horizontal bar qualifying at the Paris Olympics gymnastics competition, helping China top the qualifying round of the men's team event on Saturday.
Chinese gymnasts had a great start on the first day of the competition as Zou Jingyuan also led a 1-2 Chinese finish in both rings and parallel bars. They combined for a total of 263.028 points to edge Japan by 2.434 points.
"We did great today, every one of us," said the 2021 world all-around champion Zhang. "It's more than we could ask for. But it's only the qualifying round and we don't want to get ahead of ourselves."
Britain came third with 256.561 after holding off the U.S. with a superb set on floor exercise by Jake Jarman, who scored a leading 14.966. The U.S. fell to fifth behind Ukraine.
China, who split world titles with Japan in 2022 and 2023, have for now come out ahead in the latest installment of the gymnastics rivalry between the two nations.
China took back-to-back bronze medals at the last two Olympics, and Japan took home the Olympic title in Rio followed by a silver at the Tokyo Games.
This time, Japan's Takaaki Sugino put together a brilliant horizontal bar routine that wowed the crowd but could not comfort a frustrated Daiki Hashimoto, who lost control during his own routine and lurched forward upon landing.
That cost him the chance to defend his Olympic title on the horizontal bars. And on the parallel bars nearby, Zou Jingyuan just recorded the only score above 16 across all six apparatus.
Hashimoto told reporters in post-match interview that he felt tired and a lack of major competition experience in recent four months may have caused the missteps.
The reigning Olympic and world champion was third in the all-around qualifying behind his teammate Shinnosuke Oka.
Earlier, the crowd had erupted in cheers as Samir Ait Said, the lone competitor for the host nation France, finished third on the rings. The 34-year-old had placed fourth in Tokyo.
Ahmad Abu Al Soud, two-time world pommel horse medalist, twice fell from the apparatus and lost Jordan its best hope of obtaining a medal.
The top eight teams in the qualifying round advance to the team final and eight best finishers go to the individual apparatus final. The top 24 gymnasts enter the all-around final.
The men's team final is scheduled for next Monday. ■
