China edge out Japan for Asian Games men’s team gold in heavyweight gymnastics showdown

NAGOYA, Japan, Sept 23 - Zhang Boheng produced another powerful display at the Asian Games gymnastics competition on Wednesday as China took revenge for their Olympic defeat to Japan to beat the hosts in a clash of heavyweights for the men's team gold.

Needing a high score on the final rotation to secure victory for Team China, 26-year-old Hunan native Zhang was nerveless in the finish, posting 14.20 in a clean routine on the high bar.

It was the second time Zhang has turned the tables on Japan at the Aichi-Nagoya Games, having edged injury-hampered Shinnosuke Oka for the all-around gold, just two years after taking silver behind him at the Paris Olympics.

Zhang and teammates Zou Jingyuan, Lan Xingyu, Sun Wei and Tian Hao kept the continental gold in Chinese hands for a third time in succession with a winning score of 259.095.

Japan settled for silver for a third consecutive time.

The hosts were up against it with talisman Oka needing painkilling injections on his back to compete.

He lowered the difficulty of his routines to give him the best chance of being fit for the world championships in Rotterdam in October, and it showed as he slumped to low scores in the pommel horse and rings.

In the final round, he fell flat on his back after a botched catch on the high bar, drawing gasps from the crowd in the Nagoya General Gymnasium.

He rose to complete the routine, but his score of 12.666, later upgraded to 12.966, all but took Japan out of the equation.

That was despite a brilliant all-round performance from his Olympic champion teammate Daiki Hashimoto.

Hashimoto battled hard to carry the team on his back and had home fans roaring in the terraces with his pommel horse and vault efforts.

But China also had a vital cameo from parallel bars specialist Zou, who struck a key blow in the penultimate rotation.

Zou went for broke with the highest difficulty routine and his score of 15.40 was nearly a point higher than Oka's next-best effort (14.566), a gap that ultimately proved insurmountable for Japan.

China's gold put them at the top of the gymnastics medal table, one better than Japan, ahead of the women's team gold final later on Wednesday. REUTERS