Saturday, March 31, 2001

[ GYMNASTICS ]

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DENNIS ODA / STAR-BULLETIN
China's Jianhui Xie competed on the rings during last night's
Pontiac American Team Cup meet at the Blaisdell Arena.

Team USA
holds off China,
Romania

Hawaii gets a taste of
international gymnastics

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By Grace Wen
Star-Bulletin

Under the new International Gymnastics Federation code of points, the United States rose to the occasion as Sean Townsend led Team USA to a victory in the men's competition of the Pontiac American Team Cup at Blaisdell Arena.

Before a crowd of 2,358, the U.S. led most of the night and held off a comeback by China in the final rotation.

Townsend and twins Paul and Morgan Hamm finished 1-2-3 in the overall competition.

Team USA finished with a score of 220.675. The Chinese were second at 215.00 and the Romanians third at 210.000.

The new code clearly influenced scores as several quality routines did not receive scores reflective of the gymnasts' performances.

Though the Chinese team did not bring any members of its gold-medal winning team from the Sydney Olympics, it managed to hold its own. Jianhui Xie turned in a stunning performance on the still rings to earn a 9.550.

American Mike Dutka dazzled the crowd with a flawless routine, securing a 9.50 as he tied with Morgan Hamm and Olympian Marian Dragulescu for the highest scores of the night on the floor exercise.