Petrounias' Olympic qualification chances uncertain
With the Artistic Gymnastics World Cup in Baku, Azerbaijan being called off after Greece’s Eleftherios Petrounias finished in first place in qualifying, the reigning Olympic champion’s Tokyo 2020 qualification hopes are now out of his control.
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As Petrounias (who missed most of the 2019 season due to injury) needed to win gold at the last two remaining World Cup events in Azerbaijan and Qatar in order to qualify for this year’s Summer Olympics, it now remains uncertain what decision will be taken regarding Baku’s World Cup. Petrounias received the top score in qualifying (15.100) for the men’s rings, while current World Cup leader Liu Yang of China finished second with a score of 15.000.
Petrounias needed to win gold in the final World Cup events in order to have a chance at overtaking Yang (via tiebreaker), to earn the final Olympic qualifying spot. A decision has yet to be made as to whether the Baku qualifying scores will be the final scores, thus awarding gold to the Greek. Otherwise, it is possible that the results from Baku will not be counted at all. Additionally, the Doha World Cup has now been moved from March 18-21 to June 3-6.
The FIG (International Gymnastics Federation) have said that they are closely monitoring the situation and will make a decision on what to do with the incomplete Baku event at a later date.
