Gymnasts from China celebrate their gold medals win on the podium following the men's team final at the 39th Artistic Gymnastics World Championships in Aarhus, Denmark, October 17, 2006. Team China won the gold medal on Tuesday (Oct 17th) followed by Russian silver and Japan's bronze. (photo: sina) Gallery>>>

China climbed out the abyss of fifth place at the Athens Olympics as they won the men's team title scoring 277.775 points at Aarhus gymnastics world championships in Denmark on Tuesday.

Russia took the silver with 275.400 points by notching best on pommels, 45.350 and second on parallel bars and high bar.

Japan is best on high bar with 45.050 points in spite of a fallby all-around champion Tomita Hiroyuki, who took only 13.850, which actually cost Japan's opportunity to finish second and had to settle with the bronze.

China and Japan began on floor, Russia and Romania on pommels, Canada and Germany on rings, Switzerland and Belarus on vault.

Both Chinese Zou Kai (14.050) and Japanese Hiroyuki Tomita (14.575) started with faults by stepping out of the floor area.

Russia scored high on pommels (45.350) and then the Romanians opened their team-account on the same apparatus (44.700). Canada's total on the rings was 44.575 and Germany was 45.300 points. Switzerland marked 47.675 on vault, while Belarus earned 47.000 on the same apparatus.

China won the gold with 277.775 points after six disciplines, best on rings, 47.625, vault, 48.900 and on parallel bars with 47.125 points.

"We are here to set the first step on the road to 2008 Olympics and we proved that we are still the best," said Huang Yubin, head coach of Chinese team.

"Next, we will focus on stability, for in the new system of all three competitors' marks counted, we can not afford mistakes if we want to win the gold. We made a few mistakes, but in a whole, we did a quite good job. We brought young gymnasts here for them to feel the atmosphere and pressure here, so mistakes are something understandable," added Huang with a long-lost smile.

China's veteran Yang Wei said he felt a lot of pressure after his mistake in pommel horse.

"I am the only experienced person that anchors the team, so what I need to do is set an example for them. After dropping from the horse, I just felt the embarrassment and remorse, but I told myself I had to hold on for the following apparatuses. Fortunately, I was getting better and better," said Yang, a member of the 2000 Olympics team champions.

"My ultimate aim is to win in the Beijing Olympic Games, I think, otherwise, I would probably have retired after the 2000 Sydney Olympics. I don't know whether I can be qualified in 2008 since China gets a lot of talented gymnasts and everything depends on the exact situation in the last moment. What I need to do is of course to continue a systematic training and prolong my form until the Olympics come," said Yang, who will be 29 in 2008.

Pommel horse world champion Xiao Qin of China scored the best of 16.075 points. China's veteran Yang Wei led the parallel bars and vault with 16.100 and 16.575 points respectively. Another Chinese Chen Yibing was first in rings with 16.500 points. Japan's Eiichi Sekiguchi scored 15.700 points atop the high bar.

Romania was in fourth with 272.225 points; Belarus in fifth with 272.050, Canada in sixth with 270.350, Germany in seventh with 270.025, Switzerland in eighth with 268.025.

Editor: Donald