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RUSSIANS REPEAT
Successfully defending its title from 2001, Russia defeated Ukraine in the final of the European Team Championships, held May 3-4 in Moscow. Competing for Russia were artistic gymnasts Svetlana Khorkina, Anna Pavlova, Alexei Nemov and Alexei Bondarenko; and rhythmic gymnasts Alina Kabayeva and Irina Chaschina.
Ukrainian competitors were artistic gymnasts Alyona Kvasha, Irina Yarotskaya, Alexander Beresch and Roman Zozulia; and rhythmic gymnasts Anna Bessonova and Natalia Godunko.
Each gymnast competed on two events, and the score of a designated "Joker" routine was doubled. In preliminaries, Bulgaria was handicapped when designated "Joker" Nikolina Tankusheva scored zero on vault.
Finals: 1. RUS 140.574; 2. UKR 138.324
Semi-finals (winner of each pair advanced): UKR 74.749, BLR 71.399; RUS 74.516, HUN 67.524.
Prelims (winner of each pair advanced): UKR 134.440, AUT 117.823; RUS 139.107, BUL 116.374; BLR 131.482, ITA 130.382; HUN 122.464, GBR 120.147.
SCOTS GREAT AT CELTIC CUP
Gymnasts from Scotland dominated the Celtic Cup, held March 29 in Lisburn, Northern Ireland. Women's champion Helen Galashan placed ninth all-around at the 2002 Commonwealth Games, and tied for fourth at the '02 British junior championships. Men's champion Adam Cox was the youngest male gymnast at the '02 Commonwealth Games, where he made the finals on high bar.
Senior Women: 1. Helen Galashan SCO 33.25; 2. Katie Slader NIR 32.10; 3. Lynne Donaghy SCO 32.025.
Junior: 1. Kirsty Lawrence WAL 31.35; 2. Kathryn Ward NIR 30.95; 3. Sophie Richardson WAL 30.85.
Senior Men: 1. Adam Cox SCO 54.90; 2. Nathan Mullet WAL 53.05; 3. Shane Prince WAL 52.10.
Junior (4 events): 1. Matthew Hennessy WAL 33.20; 2. Douglas Russell SLO 33.15; 3. Andrew Darby SCO 32.80.
FRENCH CHAMPIONSHIPS
Marine Debauve and Benoit Caranobe won the senior women's and men's all-around titles, respectively, at the French championships, held April 5-6 in Albertville.
Debauve placed third at the '02 French junior championships. Last year's junior winner, Emilie Le Pennec, finished fifth. Two-time Olympian Ludivine Furnon withdrew after injuring herself on her first event, vault. Defending champion Estelle Courivaud did not compete. Betty Dupin and Marlene Peron, second and third in '02, placed seventh and 14th this year.
Caranobe, last year's bronze medalist, outscored Florent Marée by 0.05. Maree placed second in '02, and first in '01. Yann Cucherat, who won...