Taiwan gymnast Tang Chia-hung wins gold at Antalya World Cup

Taipei, March 16 (CNA) Taiwanese gymnast Tang Chia-hung (唐嘉鴻) won gold in the men's horizontal bar event at the FIG Apparatus World Cup in Antalya, Turkey, on Sunday, finishing with a score of 15.200.

Tang delivered an outstanding performance in the final, earning a difficulty score of 6.500, an execution score of 8.700, and a total of 15.200 points. Colombia's Angel Barajas finished second with 14.966 points.

The victory marked Tang's second gold medal in the FIG world cup series this year, after he won the horizontal bar title in Baku, Azerbaijan, earlier this month.

In Antalya, he also competed in the floor exercise event, but later developed mild cold symptoms and decided to withdraw from the final to rest and focus on the horizontal bar.

His coach, Huang Bo-rui (黃柏瑞), told CNA that after traveling from Baku and dealing with Turkey's dry climate, Tang developed a cold, which affected his practice.

Huang said Tang had planned to achieve high scores in the first two apparatus world cup series events this year, and that performing well also helps create a favorable impression on the judges in future competitions.

Meanwhile, Tang said his current training is focused on becoming an all-around gymnast. In addition to working on his individual events, he hopes to contribute to the team's results at the Asian Championships in April and at the Gymnastics World Championships later this year, he said.

"As I get older, I really have to cherish the chance to keep training and competing," Tang said. "Of course, I'm very grateful to the Taiwan Sports Training Center and the entire team for their support, which allows us to extend our athletic careers."

With the completion of his gold-winning performances at the two World Cup events, the Taiwanese gymnast will now return home for a short rest.

He had planned to compete in Egypt, Croatia, and Qatar, starting April 3, but due to the instability in the Middle East, he will now participate only in the Croatia tournament on April 9.