Gymnastics and More!

Giulia Steingruber SUI (VT)

Doha Challenger Cup

The Romanian women and Chinese men topped the half the events during the qualification at the 5th Doha Challenger Cup, held Wednesday in Qatar.

Three-time Olympic gold medalist Catalina Ponor had the top mark on balance beam (switch ring; ro two-foot layout; Onodi, ff, back pike; front aerial, ff, layout; switch leap; Kochetkova; double pike). Teammate Diana Bulimar led the women's floor exercise standings, nailing her tumbling passes of double layout; 1 1/2 to double pike; piked full-in and double tuck. Larisa Iordache, Romania's top hope for the 2012 Olympic Games, fell twice on balance beam (tucked full twist and two-foot layout) but qualified to the uneven bars final.

Giulia Steingruber led the women's vault qualification, while British superstar Beth Tweddle stunned the field with her 15.800 mark (7.0 Difficulty score).

Croatia's Tomislav Markovic had the best score on men's floor exercise, Slovenia's Saso Bertoncelj led pommel horse and French ringsmaster Danny Rodrigues led his best event.

The Chinese men qualified first on the three remaining men's events: Du Wei on vault, Guo Weiyang on parallel bars and Zou Kai on high bar.

The competition, part of the FIG's Challenger Cup series, continues Thursday with the first day of finals.