Turkey stars at Mersin World Challenge Cup

The Turkish gymnasts lived up to the expectations of the home crowd in Mersin by winning 5 out of the 10 available gold medals and collecting an impressive total of 12 medals in men’s and women’s artistic gymnastics combined.

In the men’s competition, Ibrahim Colak (rings), Ferhat Arican (parallel bars) and Umit Samiloglu won gold for Turkey while Mustafa Arca claimed the silver medal on floor, on pommel horse Arican added silver and Ahmet Onder bronze, Yunus Gundogdu won silver on rings and Onder silver on both parallel bars and high bar! Croatia’s Aurel Benovic was victorious on floor, with Rok Klavora (SLO) in third place. Slovenia’s Saso Bertoncelj earned the title on his speciality, pommel horse. Azerbaijan’s Murad Agharzayev returned home with the gold on vault while teammate Javidan Babayev clinched bronze on rings. The Bulgarian team earned three medals: David Huddleston won silver on vault and Yordan Aleksandrov claimed the bronze on both parallel bars and high bar.

Nazli Savranbasli (bars) and Goksu Uctas Sanli (floor) added two more titles to the Turkish medal haul with Tutya Yilmaz earning the silver on floor. European Games Champion Teja Belak beat her Slovenia teammate Tjasa Kysseleff for the gold on vault. Croatia’s Tijana Tkalcec joined them on the podium in third place. For Ireland, Meg Ryan and Jane Heffernan wrote history with their silver and bronze medal on bars, winning the first ever World Cup medals in women’s artistic gymnastics! Beam was won by Canada’s Audrey Rousseau ahead of Belak.

 

Results (top 3)

Men

Floor

1.       Aurel Benovic (CRO) 14.500

2.       Mustafa Arca (TUR) 14.050

3.       Rok Klavora (SLO) 13.800

 

Pommel horse

1.       Saso Bertoncelj (SLO) 13.650

2.       Ferhat Arican (TUR) 13.550

3.       Ahmet Onder (TUR) 13.450

 

Rings

1.       Ibrahim Colak (TUR) 15.000

2.       Yunus Gundogdu (TUR) 14.350

3.       Javidan Babayev (AZE) 13.750

 

Vault

1.       Murad Agharzayev (AZE) 14.175

2.       David Huddleston (BUL) 13.475

3.       Neofytos Kyriakou (CYP) 13.150

 

Parallel bars

1.       Ferhat Arican (TUR) 15.150

2.       Ahmet Onder (TUR) 14.450

3.       Yordan Aleksandrov (BUL) 14.100

 

High bar

1.       Umit Samiloglu (TUR) 14.000

2.       Ahmet Onder (TUR) 13.650

3.       Yordan Aleksandrov (BUL) 13.350

 

Women

Vault

1.       Teja Belak (SLO) 14.100

2.       Tjasa Kysselef (SLO) 13.425

3.       Tijana Tkalcec (CRO) 13.350

 

Bars

1.       Nazli Savranbasli (TUR) 12.250

2.       Meg Ryan (IRL) 10.850

3.       Jane Heffernan (IRL) 10.850

 

Beam

1.       Audrey Rousseau (CAN) 12.500

2.       Teja Belak (SLO) 11.800

3.       Katelyn Nguyen (VIE) 11.400

 

Floor

1.       Goksu Uctas Sanli (TUR) 12.400

2.       Tutya Yilmaz (TUR) 12.100

2.       Doan Quynh Nam Tran (VIE) 12.100

 

For full results, consult the FIG website: https://www.gymnastics.sport/site/events/searchresults.php

The Artistic Gymnastics World Challenge Cup series continues this week in Szombathely (HUN)!