The host Korea wins two of the four medals on offer on Saturday to send out warning signals to its opponents of its plans of capturing the pinnacle in Aerobic Gymnastics.
The Koreans won first gold courtesy James Bond’s
On the Saturday evening at the World Championship in Incheon, in front of a super charged home crowd the Korean team won its first ever gold medal in the Aerobic Dance category and that too James Bond style.
No there was no Daniel Craig like the London Olympics of 2012 but there was the Korean trio of Ryu Jusun, Kim Hanjin and Go Kyungmin who after having to be content with Bronze in 2014 put in a spectacular show to edge past its rival China by just one tenth of a point to beat them to the gold.
The Korean team had used the James Bond themed routine as their motivation to fulfill their quest for excellence. Their bounding leaps and flighty aerial elements were true to the 007 style and the gold an apt dedication.
The Entertaining Eight Aero-danced to the second gold
The Eight people Korean Aerobic Dance team of Lee Jongu, Lee Kyungho, Kim Eungsoo, Han Jaehyun, Lee Seung Hyun, Kim Munsu, Im Seyun and Park Hyunmin were exceptional and in what was a routine win clinched the gold medal. Though not the James Bond style they put in a highly charged entertaining performance combing of exercises with classical and hip-hop to help judges choose the winner hands down.
The Chinese contingent comprising of Feng Kai, Fu Yao, He Ranran, Huang Chengkai, Huang Zijing, Wang Ke, Zhang Huiwen and Zhao Ming put in a B-boy infused routine to earn their third silver medal of the day, while defending World champion Russia (Anton Shishigen, Garsevan Dzhanazian, Roman Semenov, Danil Chaiun, Kirill Kulikov, Kirill Lobaznyuk, Igor Trushkov and Aleksei Zhuravlev) Irish step-danced from fifth place after qualification to take bronze.
Oana Corina Constantin’ completes her collection
“This was my last dream,” said the Romanian after winning the gold. She took full advantage of being the last woman to perform in the Women’s Individual competition and delivered a routine that brought her gold.
Winning the gold she not only completed her collection of winning every medal on offer but also she became the first Romanian woman since Izabela Lacatus in 2000 to win the world title. She termed the win as a revenge for her last year performance where she came short and won the silver. This year the silver went to China’s Yu Yangyang who had won bronze at the 2014 edition. It was also double joy for France’s Aurélie Joly, who came out of retirement for one last whirl at Worlds and performed cleanly to win her second consecutive World bronze.