You Hao dethrones defending champion to win parallel bars

Published 11/01/2015, 12:46 PM EST

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GLASGOW (Reuters) – You Hao earned the Chinese men’s team their first gold medal at this year’s gymnastics world championships after eclipsing Ukrainian defending champion Oleg Verniaiev in the parallel bars final on Sunday.

After a week of disappointment and near misses, You Hao sparked jubilant celebrations among the Chinese contingent on the final day of competition when he edged out Verniaiev by 0.15 of a point with a score of 16.216.

Travelling the bars end-to-end, You Hao swung into a series of rigidly straight handstands before nailing his dismount to the delight of his coach.

The duo exchanged high fives and even though there were six more gymnasts still to go in the final, none of them could leapfrog the 23-year-old. Compatriot Deng Shudi and tattoed-Azerbaijani Oleg Stepko tied for the bronze.

(Reporting by Pritha Sarkar, editing by Tony Jimenez)

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