2018 Asian Games: China clinches men's team all-around gold

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02:03

Yesterday saw the men's team final in the all-around Artistic gymnastics event with old rivals China and Japan competing for the gold. The Chinese team were able to come out on top on this occasion but as Wu Haojun tells us, their neck-and-neck performance at major events could provide for interesting viewing come the 2020 Tokyo Olympics.

The final of the men's team all-around starts with eight teams competing for the gold. Fans from both Japan and China are in attendance with both sides expected to be in and around the medal positions.

At the 2016 Rio Olympics, Japan were victorious while the PRC men could only finish with a bronze. Four years ago, at the Asian games in Inchon, a streak of ten straight gold medals, won by China, was snapped by Japan. This time the score was reversed and the Chinese stood first on the podium with 260.950 points.

TENG HAIBIN CHINA COACH "We are satisfied with the result because we are the champion. I think this is our normal performance. We don't care much about the scores because all our focus is on the ranking."

Softening the win for China's men is the fact their biggest rivals for the title didn't send a full strength squad. Japan's second team showed they have more than enough to be competitive but did China really beat the best?

TENG HAIBIN CHINA COACH "Yes, they just sent the second tier of their national team here. They are a young squad. Sometimes they are not good enough on landings and they make some faults. But to us, earning experience is more important than the final result. We need to find out what we have to improve in the future."

With both country's record at the Olympics and the Asian games showing there isn't much separating them in this event, the competition will be heating up once more in two summers time when the Tokyo 2020 games gets underway. Wu Haojun, CGTN.