China's Xiao Qin competes during the pommel horse competition of the men's qualifications at the 40th World Gymnastics Championships in Stuttgart, city of southwest Germany on Sept. 3, 2007. Xiao took 16.275 points.(Xinhua Photo)
STUTTGART, Sept. 3 (Xinhua) -- Chinese head coach Huang Yubin said on Monday he was "satisfied" with the performance of China team in the qualifying stage of the world gymnastics championships despite some errors made in the horizontal bar.
"The most important is that we clinch ideal place in the individual events," said Huang after the competition.
On Monday's qualification round, China overwhelmed Japan to take the first place for the time being.
As for six individual events, the Chinese gymnasts placed first in four events, and defending champion Yang Wei ranked first in the all-round listing.
Yang also ranked first in the parallel bars, while his teammate Chen Yibin clinched the first place in rings, Xiaon Qin in pommel horse.
What surprised the Chinese team is that Zou Kai overtook Brazilian Diego Hypolito, who seized the floor gold medal in Melbourne world championships.
As for the errors taking place in the horizontal bar, Huang said "it is not a surprise in a major international competition like world championships."
He said the Chinese team is weak in horizontal bar.
On Monday, Liang Fuliang dropped from the horizontal bar, making other Chinese gymnasts followed suit.
"During the upcoming period, one objective of our team is to resolve this problem in the event, and this is a need for next year's gymnastics world championships," he said.
"The qualification round has just started," he said, adding that "what we need is to demonstrate our sill."
