Göksu Üctas Sanli
The final world challenge cup of the 2020-2021 season begins tomorrow with qualifications in Mersin, where around a hundred gymnasts are on the roster to compete both for medals and for the overall challenge cup series titles.
In the women’s field, Csenge Bacskay of Hungary leads the series on vault after winning medals at three of the five meets so far, including the gold in Osijek, and silver at last week’s competition in Koper. On floor, the leader is two-time Olympian Ana Derek of Croatia, who also won gold in Osijek and silver last week, while Diana Varinska of Ukraine leads bars and beam, and while she won’t be in attendance in Mersin, she still has a strong chance at keeping her lead on bars.
Illia Kovtun of Ukraine leads floor, pommel horse, and parallel bars, and will be on hand to fight for the overall titles this weekend, as will his teammate Nazar Chepurnyi, who leads vault. Vinzenz Höck of Austria, who won gold on rings last weekend, has a perfect 90 on this event, so despite not participating in Mersin, he’ll pretty much certainly get the overall win, while Tin Srbic of Croatia, who won the silver on high bar at the Olympics last month, also leads his event with a score of 90 and should walk away with the win without attending the Mersin meet.
Turkey, the host country, isn’t sending any of its MAG Olympians, but they have six up-and-coming talents on the roster, including last week’s Koper p-bars champion Sercan Demir, along with Mustafa Arca, Hasan Bulut, Yunus Gündogdu, Mehmet Ayberk Kosak, and Kerem Sener. 2020 Olympian Nazli Savranbasi and 2012 Olympian Göksu Üctas Sanli, who won silver on floor at European Championships in 2020, headline the women’s field for Turkey, with Bilge Tarhan and Cemre Kendirci also expected to compete.
Qualifications will be held on Friday, September 10, while finals will be held over the weekend.
The nominative list of competitors is below, but note that the last update to the roster was August 19, and it’s likely that several listed will not end up competing.
| ALBANIA | |
| Matvei Petrov | |
| AUSTRIA | |
| Marlies Männersdorfer | |
| AZERBAIJAN | |
| Javidan Babayev Aghamurad Gahramanov Nikita Simonov |
|
| BRAZIL | |
| Gabriel Barbosa Diogo Paes Patrick Sampaio Leonardo Souza |
|
| CANADA | |
| Zachary Clay Félix Dolci William Emard Chris Kaji Jayson Rampersad Samuel Zakutney |
Jessica Dowling Audrey Rousseau Rose-Kaying Woo |
| CHILE | |
| Ignacio Varas | |
| CROATIA | |
| Filip Ude Jakov Vlahek |
Ana Derek Tijana Korent Sara Sulekic Christina Zwicker |
| CYPRUS | |
| Neofytos Kyriakou | Christiana Eleftheriou |
| CZECH REPUBLIC | |
| Ondrej Kalny | |
| GREECE | |
| Apostolos Kanellos Georgios Kelesidis Grigorios Kosmidis Christos Tsingelidis Stefanos Tsolakidis |
Argyro Afrati Elvira Katsali Vasiliki Kyrlidou |
| HUNGARY | |
| Krisztian Balazs Krisztofer Meszaros Benedek Tomcsanyi David Vecsernyes |
Csenge Bacskay Dorina Böczögö Zoja Szekely |
| ITALY | |
| Edoardo de Rosa Tommaso de Vecchis Lay Giannini Niccolo Vannucchi |
|
| JORDAN | |
| Ahmad Abu Al Soud Saleem Naghouj |
|
| KAZAKHSTAN | |
| Ilyas Azizov Nariman Kurbanov Farukh Nabiyev |
|
| LATVIA | |
| Ricards Plate | |
| LITHUANIA | |
| Gytis Chasazyrovas Tomas Kuzmickas Robert Tvorogal |
Agata Vostruchovaite |
| MONGOLIA | |
| Boldbaatar Bayarsaikhan Enkhtuvshin Damdindorj Usukhbayar Erkhembayar |
|
| POLAND | |
| Brygida Urbanska | |
| ROMANIA | |
| Gabriel Burtanete Toma Modoianu-Zseder |
Larisa Iordache |
| RUSSIA | |
| Viktor Kaliuzhin Grigorii Klimentev |
|
| SERBIA | |
| Dusan Dordevic Vlada Rakovic |
Andjela Djurdjevic Aleksandra Rajcic |
| SLOVENIA | |
| Saso Bertoncelj Luka Bojanc Nikolaj Bozic Luka Kisek |
Lucija Hribar Tjasa Kysselef |
| SWITZERLAND | |
| Moreno Kratter Henji Mboyo Samir Serhani |
|
| TURKEY | |
| Mustafa Arca Hasan Bulut Sercan Demir Yunus Gündogdu Mehmet Kosak Kerem Sener |
Cemre Kendirci Nazli Savranbasi Bilge Tarhan Göksu Üctas Sanli |
| UKRAINE | |
| Nazar Chepurnyi Vladyslav Hryko Illia Kovtun |
Anastasiia Bachynska Yana Fedorova Yelizaveta Hubareva |
| UZBEKISTAN | |
| Rasuljon Abdurakhimov Abdulla Azimov Khabibullo Ergashev Abdulazzi Mirvaliev |
Dildora Aripova Ominakhon Khalilova Anastasiya Miroshnichenko |
Article by Lauren Hopkins
The Gymternet 