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Dalaloyan upsets China, snatches men's all-round gold

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AFP Doha

Russia's Artur Dalaloyan held his nerve to claim his first ever men's all-around title in a thrilling finish at the world championships in Doha on Wednesday.

On a night of high tension and despite ending on the same score as China's defending champion Xiao Ruoteng, 87.598, the 22-year-old Moscovite took gold on a count back of each competitor's top five scores.

His compatriot Nikita Nagornyy took bronze, finishing on 86.331.

It capped a great comeback for Dalaloyan, who was left in tears earlier in the week after falling off the parallel bars in the team competition.

He took the slenderest of leads, 0.1 points, into the final discipline, the high bar, but held his nerve to set Ruoteng a tough target of 14.233.

 

Incredibly, the Chinese star matched that score, showing grace under pressure to produce a fine routine but ultimately ended with silver.

There was disappointment for the USA's Samuel Mikulak.

He went into the final round in third with a chance of all three medals but a high bar mark of 12.366 left him finishing in fifth place.

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First Published: Oct 31 2018 | 10:15 PM IST

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