Lee Chih-kai (李智凱) / (Image taken from facebook.com/CTUSFSSU)

Taipei, July 7 (CNA) Taiwanese gymnast Lee Chih-kai (李智凱) bagged a gold medal in the men's pommel horse event at the 2019 Summer Universiade in Naples Sunday, successfully defending the title he won in Taipei in 2017.

Lee advanced to the finals with the highest score of 15.150 among 55 athletes and won gold with an even higher score of 15.400, besting seven other finalists with his "Thomas Flair" technique.



He was the only athlete to receive a score higher than 15 and became the first Taiwanese gymnast to win consecutive golds at the Universiade.

Lee also brought home the bacon at the 2017 Summer Universiade in Taipei, first performing the difficult Thomas Flair technique.

The silver medal went to Nariman Kurbanov of Kazakhstan, who scored 14.700, while Kazuma Kaya of Japan took bronze with a score of 14.500.

The Universiade is an international multi-sport event, organized for university athletes by the International University Sports Federation (FISU), and is held every two years.

Lee, dubbed "the pommel horse prince" in Taiwan, is looking to enter the top 12 in the all-around category at the 49th Artistic Gymnastics World Championships to be held in Stuttgart, Germany in October, for an outright berth at the 2020 Tokyo Olympics.

(By Long Po-an and Emerson Lim)
Enditem/J