SPORTS
Belgium women's team in pole for Acrobatic Gymnastics gold
Baku, June 17, AZERTAC
Belgium's women acrobatic gymnasts put themselves in solid contention for gold after the balance and dynamic qualification programmes at the National Gymnastics Arena on Wednesday.
Their team comprises 2014 world championship bronze medallists Ineke van Schoor, Kaat Dumarey and Julie van Gelder.
And the combined scores from both of their routines will be added to the score earned in the all-around final on Friday to determine the medallists.
The Belgians posted the highest score for the balance routine with 29.090 points. In the dynamic routine they scored 28.730 - only 0.01 point behind the top team, Russia's Valeriia Belkina, Yulia Nikitina and Zhanna Parkhometc.
With the scores added together, the Belgian trio secured a 0.92 point lead over the Russian girls, their biggest rivals.
"We don't need to worry," Van Schoor said. "We are in a good position right now."
The best six teams in each routine qualify for the finals.
"We can do better, so maybe we can be a surprise in the finals," Van Gelder said.
In the mixed pairs competition, Georgy Pataraya and Marina Chernova of Russia lead by two points over Belgians Yana Vastavel and Solano Cassamajor.
Pataraya and Chernova are the top qualifiers for the dynamic and balance finals on Sunday.