Shang Chunsong of China acts during the competition of Balance Beam of women's artistics gymnastics qualification at the 2016 Olympic Games, in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, on Aug. 7, 2016. (Xinhua/Zheng Huansong)
Chinese women's gymnastics team with five members all without Olympic experience shook off the nervousness to show their skill on Sunday in the qualification at the Rio Olympic Games.
Starting from the balance beam, the 20-year-old Shang Chunsong and the 16-year-old Wang Yan both made mistakes while landing in vault and Mao Yi fell off in the floor exercise, which was her speciality.
"We were all thinking about reaching the single event finals during the competition, so we were a little bit too nervous," said the world uneven bar champion Fan Yilin, who made a below par performance in her speciality.
Despite the unparalleled U.S. team are still waiting for showing their dominance later in the evening, China would not worry about the team final berth with a total score of 175.279 points. Besides, captain Shang Chunsong and Wang Yan both had great chance to reach the all-around final.
"It's a pity that I failed to perform better in the balance beam," said Shang. "I really want to reach the final of the event, because I think I have great ability in this apparatus. "
China finished fourth in the women's team event four years ago at the London Olympic Games.
