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IKOLI VICTOR
doha
Kohei Uchimura, the six-time all-around champion suffered a setback at the 11th FIG Artistic Individual Apparatus World Cup at the Aspire Dome on Thursday.
The Japanese failed to cross the hurdle in the men's vault and horizontal qualification rounds. In the first event, the 28-year-old, widely regarded as one of the best of his time, finished 10th with 14.100 points.
Ukraine's Igor Radivilov and Chinese duo Huang Mingqi and Qu Ruiyang took the first three positions.
"I will check all the footage of my performances when I get back to Japan. I need to work on my weaknesses," Uchimura said.
"Training was excellent, but I wasn't in the best of my mood."
Eight top competitors will battle for the podium finish in the finals.
Uchimura, who missed out on his seventh consecutive world title last year in Montreal, Canada, failed in the horizontal bar, where he ended up 10th.
Ironically, China's Xiao Ruoteng, who succeeded him in Montreal, topped the chart followed by Edgar Boulet (France) and compatriot Deng Shudi.
French duo Melanie de Jesus and Marine Boyer grabbed the first two qualification spots followed by Belgium's Nina Derwael in the women's balance beam.
Japanese duo Yuki Uchiyama and Nagi Kajita also made it to the finals.
But Uzbekistan's veteran gymnast Oksana Chusovitina, who had qualified for the vault final on Wednesday, came 12th.
Great Britain's Taeja James stormed into the finals with an effort of 13.533 points followed by Rune Hermans (Belgium), Elisa Meneghini (Italy), Nagi Kajita (Japan), Liu Jinru (China), Lara Mori (Italy), Kim Su Jong (PRK) and Marine Boyer (France).
