Chinese women tramp champs

China made it one and two in the women's individual final of the gymnastics trampoline competition this afternoon, beating the next best competitor by a considerable margin.

The Chinese duo Huang Shanshan and Zhong Zingping scored remarkable tallies of 38.40 and 38.30 respectively, putting them easily in front and leaving Uzbek Ekaterina Khilko more than two points adrift on 36.00.

Huang was primed for gold. She had the top scores in qualificiation for her voluntary routine and she is the world no 6, the highest placed Asian in the field. She's also been in fine form on the 2005/2006 World Cup, but missed a medal at the World Cup final in Birmingham.

Huang became the first gymnast to win a World Cup title for China when she took gold in Savognin, Switzerland in 2006, she also took a second gold at the Salzgitter event in Germany.

Zhong performed particularly well in this competition. She's world 14th seed, yet her routines got her within 0.10 of the leader, and while she only got difficulty 14.1 against Huang's 14.5 for her qualifying round routine, she still managed to score 37.40 in the qualifier, just 0.40 behind Huang.

As a consolation, bronze medallist Ekaterina Khilko of Uzbekistan did remain a solid 3.20 points ahead of her closest chaser, Haruka Hirota on 32.80. The last two in the field were Kazakh Yevgeniya Kazakevich with 32.70 and Uzbek Anna Savkina scored a shocking 7.40

15th Asian Games, Doha 2006