Gao Lei of China competes in men's trampoline event at the FIG World Cup in Baku, Azerbaijan, February 16, 2020. /CGTN Sports Scene Screenshot
China dominated the trampoline event at the FIG World Cup in Baku, Azerbaijan on Sunday. Gao Lei won the gold medal while veteran Dong Dong took home the bronze for the Chinese men's team while Zhu Xueying and Liu Lingling finished one-two in the women's category to give China a great chance to secure full berths at the 2020 Tokyo Olympics.
The men's trampoline event saw four-time world champion Gao putting on a flawless performance to secure first place with 61.585 points. His veteran teammate, Dong, who was aiming to qualify for his fourth Olympics, was almost as good and got the bronze.
On the women's side, Zhu was the last to perform and the huge height of her maneuvers helped her score 55.810 points to clinch the gold while her compatriot Liu Lingling bagged the silver with an almost flawless performance.
After his side's emphatic podium dominance, China's team leader Lu Chunlong said, "During the whole winter training our team built up stamina and focused more on enhancing the difficulty and height of our maneuvers. We not only tested our training during this competition, but also got our next training target for the 2020 Tokyo Olympics. We still have a lot of things to do to achieve our final goals of winning gold medals on both the men's and women's sides. So, I hope everything goes well."