China sets early pace at gymnastic Worlds

By Sonia Oxley

STUTTGART, Germany (Reuters) - Holders China displayed a spectacular array of skills to set the early pace in women's team qualifying at the world gymnastics championships on Saturday.

Four members of the Chinese team were appearing at their first major competition but their lack of experience did not show and their points total of 241.175 was higher than they managed at last year's event when they qualified in second place.

Romania showed some of their old sparkle to finish 1.300 behind in second thanks to breath-taking balance beam performances from triple Olympic gold medalist Catalina Ponor and Steliana Nistor, who leads the individual standings.

With many of the top contenders, including the United States and Russia, performing on Sunday, Italy are third in the early standings. Ukraine are fourth and hosts Germany fifth.

The top eight teams qualify for the team final and the top 12 nations earn places at next year's Olympics.

Keen to impress the judges before hosting the Games in Beijing, China started on the asymmetric bars.

Newcomer Yang Yilin, who turned 15 less than a week ago, produced a series of slick moves and daring catches to notch the day's best score of 16.000 on that apparatus.

Fellow first-timer Li Shanshan jumped and turned confidently on the balance beam to impress the judges for 16.325, helping to ensure Chinese gymnasts held the top score on every apparatus.