Israel won the gold medal Saturday evening in the Team Award competition at the Acrobatic Gymnastics World Championships in Pesaro, Italy. Following the qualification stage and the calculation of the results of the three leading units, Israel finished first with 88 points, ahead of Russia and the United States, which each scored 81 points.
The scores that secured Israel the gold medal were recorded by the women's pair Shiraz Sokolovsky and Rony Cohen (Meofefei Haifa and Maccabi AcroGym), coached by Yannay Kalfa; the men's group of Liad Madar, Eran Rodnay, Liran Cohen and Yevgeni Pinchukov (Begin Holon), coached by Lidar Dana; and the women's trio of Ori Dekel, Roni Rotman and Arad Aber Deutch (Meofefei Haifa), coached by Ofir Cohen.
Alongside the gold medal in the team competition, the Israeli delegation completed two excellent days of qualifications with a long list of berths in the finals.
Shiraz Sokolovsky and Rony Cohen finished second in Dynamic qualification with 28.09 points and advanced to the final, after also qualifying for the Balance final Friday in second place with 28.41 points. They finished first in the all-around qualification with 56.50 points and advanced to the combined final.
Liad Madar, Eran Rodnay, Liran Cohen and Yevgeni Pinchukov finished fourth in Dynamic qualification with 27.64 points and advanced to the final, after also qualifying for the Balance final Friday in second place with 28.46 points. They finished second in the all-around with 56.10 points and advanced to the combined final.
(Photo: Courtesy of the Israel Gymnastics Federation/Filippo Tomasi)
Ori Dekel, Roni Rotman and Arad Aber Deutch finished seventh in Balance qualification with 28.13 points but will not advance to the final due to the one-unit-per-country limit. On Friday, they qualified for the Dynamic final after finishing second with 28.32 points. They finished second in the all-around with 56.45 points and advanced to the combined final.
Rotem Wolf and Yotam Klumel (Begin Holon and Maccabi Dan Gymnastics & Acrobatics), coached by Maya Ganot and Amir Moses, finished 11th in Balance on Saturday with 27.10 points and will serve as the first reserves for the final. They finished fifth in the all-around with 56.17 points and advanced to the combined final.
Acrobatic Gymnastics World Championships
(Photo: Courtesy of the Israel Gymnastics Federation/Filippo Tomasi)
Noam Ronen, Noa Yifrah and Mary Ovadia (Begin Holon), coached by Amir Moses, finished fourth in Balance qualification with 28.77 points and advanced to the final. They finished third in the all-around with 56.35 points but will not advance to the combined final due to the one-unit-per-country limit.
Roni Teller and Hen Banuz (Meofefei Haifa), coached by Yannay Kalfa, finished 12th in Balance qualification with 27.07 points and 10th in the all-around with 54.44 points.
"What an exciting way to begin the Sukkot holiday, with the Israeli flag at the top of the podium at the World Championships," Israel Gymnastics Federation Chairman Avi Sagi said. "The gold medal in the team competition is an achievement for the entire delegation and for a strong sport, and it reflects the professional and dedicated work being done every day at our clubs."