The 9th edition of Doha Artistic Gymnastics Challenge Cup will begin at the Aspire Academy of Sports Excellence from today, with top gymnasts attempting to get into groove ahead of this year’s Olympics in Rio. The Doha event follows the opening of the 2016 FIG Artistic Gymnastics World Challenge Cup series on individual apparatus in Baku, Azerbaijan last month.
Organised by the Qatar Gymnastics Federation, the annual event that started in 2008 has attracted more than 100 gymnasts from 33 different countries this year. The championship features world-class gymnasts in six apparatus events for men - floor exercises, pommel horse, rings, vaults, parallel bars and horizontal bars. Women’s events include vault, uneven bars, balance beam as well as floor exercises.The qualifications will be today, followed by finals tomorrow and Saturday.  
Leading the field is Romania’s five-time Olympic medallist Catalina Ponor, who will be making her comeback to international competition in Doha this week. The 28-year-old was the most decorated gymnast at the Athens 2004 Olympics, winning gold in the team event — on Floor and on Balance Beam.
The Romanian retired from gymnastics following the London Olympics, where she bagged silver on Floor and bronze with the team.


Ponor since went on a sabbatical and she now hopes to return to a Romanian team led by Larisa Iordache, who won World Championships all-around silver medal behind American Simone Biles in Glasgow last October.
Ponor is registered for the Olympic Test Event in Rio de Janeiro in April, where the Romanian team will have to finish among the top four teams to qualify to this summer’s Olympics. Iordache, who has tasted lot of success in Doha, will be missing this edition’s Challenge Cup, as she is recovering from a finger injury.
Another star-attraction over the next three days is the 2015 European All-around champion Giulia Steingruber of Switzerland. Steingruber returns to Doha hoping to repeat her excellent performance from last year, when she won titles on both of her specialty events. She will be joined by Diana Bulimar of Romania and Teja Belak of Slovenia, both medallists from last year’s World Challenge Cup.
On the men’s side, five-time Olympic and World champion Zou Kai of China will be the cynosure of all eyes. The 28-year-old has had good results before in Doha. The Chinese won the Floor and Horizontal Bar titles in 2011 and 2012, as well as the Floor and team event at the 2006 Doha Asian Games.
Also returning to Doha is Nicolas Cordoba of Argentina, the Horizontal Bar gold medallist here last year. Cordoba is ranked world No.1 in High Bar and it will be hard to beat his this year too.  
Brazil’s Diego Hypolito (2015 Floor and Vault silver medallist) is the other gymnast to watch out for. Hypolito, who participated at the 2008 and 2012 Olympic Games, is the 2005 and 2007 World champion on Floor Exercise.
Armeniens Vahagn Davtyan (2014 and 2015 Vault gold medallist) and Harutyun Merdinyan (2015 Pommel Horse gold medallist), Oleg Stepko of Azerbaijan (2015 Parallel Bars gold medallist) will also be in action.
The men’s competition will be spiced up by Manrique Larduet of Cuba and Eleftherios Petrounias of Greece, both of whom impressed at the 2015 World Championships in Glasgow. While Petrounias bagged the title on Rings, All-around silver medallist Larduet made waves in the Gymnastics world by winning Cuba’s first World medal in 14 years.
Qatar has fielded three young gymnasts — Farah Tariq, Mahmood al-Saadi and Ahmad al-Dayani for the competition. The 17-year-old Farah, who will compete in women’s Uneven Bars today, was excited to participate in front of the home crowd.
“I am very excited to compete against world class gymansts. It will be a good learning experience for me. I hope to give my best and qualify for the finals,” Farah said.
President of the Qatar Gymnastics Federation Ali al-Hitmi was hopeful the event will continue to excel and attract large crowds. “Hosting the World Challenge Cup for the 9th year in a row reflects the trust of the International Gymnastics Federation in the Qatari organisational abilities,” said al-Hitmi.
“Over the years, this event has seen big names in action and that has helped build Doha’s reputation as a major venue for hosting mega sports events. We are ready to deliver another world class competition. Our next goal will be the World Artistic Gymnastics Championships in 2018,” he added.