Tokyo Olympics: Shaky start proves costly for debutant Farah Ann

TOKYO: A shaky start to her maiden Olympic outing proved costly for national women's artistic gymnastics queen Farah Ann Abdul Hadi as she could only finish 68th out of 85 competitors in the individual all-around qualifiers at the Ariake Gymnastics Centre here today.

The gymnast, who was clad in a striking orange leotard, ended the day at the Tokyo Olympics with a total score of 48.565 points.

Farah Ann, who competed in subdivision four of the qualifying round, got off to a shaky start when she could only score 11.600 points in the uneven bars and 11.566 points in the balance beam apparatus.

The 27-year-old then dazzled her way 12.233 points in the floor exercise before ending the day in style with 13.166 points on the vault for her highest score of all four apparatus.

Only the top 24 ranked gymnasts, with a maximum of two representatives per country, will qualify for the July 29 all-around final while the top eight ranked gymnasts, with a maximum of two representatives per country, will feature in the apparatus finals.

Reigning Olympic champion Simone Biles of the United States of America topped the overall ranking today with 57.731 points, followed by Brazil's Rebeca Andrade (57.399 points) and another American, Sunisa Lee (57.166 points).

On Saturday (July 24), another Malaysian debutant, Jeremiah Loo Phay Xing also failed to advance to the final of the men's category after he finished 62nd out of 66 competitors, with a total of 67.498 points.

The 23-year-old scored 13.100 points in the floor exercise, pommel horse (12.266 pts), rings (7.700 pts), vault (12.466 pts), parallel bars (10.200 pts) and horizontal bar (11.766 pts) in the qualifying round.

-- BERNAMA