PH gymnast running 7th in qualifying

NANJING—While kids her age normally get attached to their mobile phones and tablets, gymnast Ava Lorein Verdeflor has been hooked on doing floor exercises and somersaults almost every day.

The 15-year-old saw her years of training bore fruit when she came up with a strong performance in the qualifying round of women’s artistic gymnastics Monday in the 2014 Youth Olympic Games.

Verdeflor, who picked up the sport when she was 6, performed well in the uneven bars, vault and floor exercise to place seventh overall and stand a strong chance of entering the medal round Wednesday at the Nanjing Olympic Stadium Gymnasium.

“I’m really happy on how I performed, maybe not so much on the beam but I feel like I did good on the floor and vault,” said the Texas-based Verdeflor.

She compiled scores of 12.450 points in the uneven bars, 11.950 in the floor exercise, 13.100 in the vault and 12.700  in the  beam for a total of 50.200 points before a group of anxious Filipino sports officials at the gallery led by Philippine Olympic Committee president Jose “Peping” Cojuangco Jr., Philippine Sports Commission chair Richie Garcia and chef de mission Jonne Go.

Elissa Downie of Great Britain topped the qualifying phase with 53.500 points after posting the highest scores in the vault (14.900) and floor exercise (13.500) and placing second in the beam (13.500).

“I have to be confident when I qualify (in the finals). Beam wasn’t my best but hopefully next time it will be better,” said Verdeflor.

“I’m really nervous today and I had to get my nerves in check,” she added.

If Verdeflor, who trained at the World Olympic Gymnastics Academy in Plano, Texas, felt fidgety, it didn’t show.

She placed seventh overall after the two of three groups had done their routine. The third and final group of 14 gymnasts performed late Monday night. A total of 41 gymnasts are vying for the top 16 spots in the all-around event and eight each in the apparatus events.

“Considering that this is her first big international meet, she did a good job,” said Verdeflor’s coach Yevgeny Marchenko, a five-time sports acrobatics world champion.

“Obviously, we had some mistakes, but we could do better. Our goal is to be in the finals, so we’ll see how the rest of the competition goes,” added the Russian, who coached American Carly Patterson, the 2004 Athens Olympic gold medalist in men’s artistic gymnastics.

Wang Yan of China placed second in the qualifier (53.200 points) followed by Italy’s Iosra Abdelaziz (53.150), Mexico’s Stephanie Hernandez (51.100), Japan’s Sae Miyakawa (50.900) and Switzerland’s Gaia Nesurini  (50.425).

“She (Verdeflor) has a lot of potential. She can do a lot much better and we’re looking forward to many, many good more years,” said Marchenko.

Meanwhile, swimmer Roxanne Yu will swim in the heats of the women’s 200-meter backstroke today. Yu failed to qualify in the finals of the 100m back earlier.