Alkass Digital
Ukraine's Illia Kovtun added gold and a bronze to his silver to end his campaign at the 14th Taishan FIG Artistic Gymnastics World Cup on a positive note on Saturday.
The parallel bars gold was a back-to-back one for the Ukrainian following his triumph at the World Cup series opener in Cottbus (Germany) on February 27.
The 18-year-old, who won All-Around bronze at the 2021 World Artistic Gymnastics Championships, collected 15.166 points in the finals, which placed him above Kazakhstan's Milad Karimi (14.566) and Russia's Ivan Kuliak (14.533).
Among other notable gymnasts, Armenia's Olympic bronze medallist (vault) Artur Davytan also picked up his back-to-back World Cup gold while Ukraine's Nazar Chepurnyi finished behind the former in a repeat of their Cottbus performances. James Bacueti took bronze.
Russia's Olympic gold medalist Vladislava Urazova was confidence personified on the BB to pick up her maiden medal in the World Cup Series.
The 17-year-old, who turned senior in 2020, won gold in the team event at the Tokyo Games ahead of the USA. She also qualified to the all-around and balance beam finals in Tokyo but due to the presence of other heavyweights barring American superstar Simone Biles, the Russian finished fourth in all-around and eighth in the balance beam apparatuses.
But Urazova missed a podium finish by a whisker on the Floor Exercise in the Qatari capital after she finished fourth (12.233 ) behind team-mate Mariia Minaeva (12.666), Ukraine's Daniela Batrona (12.666) and Hungary's Dorina Boeczoego (12.433).
The teenager belongs to a new generation of gymnasts that also includes Anastasia Ilyankova, Viktoria Listunova and Angelina Melnikova, one of the most decorated Russian gymnasts.
Her team-mate Listunova won one gold (uneven bar) and bronze (vault) to reaffirm Russia's supremacy in world gymnastics. With the next Paris Games due two years from now, the points earned at the FIG World Cup Series would do a world good for these Russian youngsters.
After the Doha edition, the World Cup Series will travel to Cairo (Egypt, March 1320) and Baku (Azerbaijan, March 31-April 4. It will be followed by six World Challenge Cup series spread over six different cities