The city of Ghent in Belgium will be the center of the world of acrobatics when it will host on April 28-30, 2006, the first World Cup of 2006 as well as the Partena Cup of Flanders.
The World Cup meet will be the 5th of the 2005-2006 World Cup series after stops in Sofia (BUL), Levallois (FRA), Krasnodar (RUS), and Ostend (BEL) in 2005. After the Ghent World Cup, the 2005-2006 World Cup will stop in Krasnodar (RUS) in May, Savognin (SWI) in August, and Salzgitter (GER) in September. The World Cup Final will take place in Birmingham (GBR) in November 2006.
It will be the first time that Ghent will host a trampoline World Cup. Belgium already hosted two, both in Ostend in 2003 and 2005.
The city of Ghent is nonetheless no stranger to hosting major international competitions as it hosted the 2nd European Championships of trampoline, back in 1971, then won by Paul Luxon (GBR) and Margarete Duell (GER). The 20th European Championships will take place next month in Metz, France. The Ghent World Cup will thus be crucial to evaluate who will be the favorites for these upcoming European Championships.
The rosters of the World Cup event are very impressive as they include almost all top athletes in the world.
In the men's trampoline event, the competition should be ve
ry open as all finalists of the 2005 World Championships will be there to try to win the gold medal. 2005 World Champion Alexander Rusakov will star on the Russian team, alongside 1998 World Champion German Khnychev, 2004 European Youth Champion Dimitri Ushakov, and Yuri Koziakov, who was preferred over Alexander Leven, the 2001 and 2003 WAGCs winner. A close eye should be kept on 17-year-old Ushakov as he regularly rivaled with or beat Rusakov and Khnychev at most of the Russian domestic competitions over the past year. Rusakov is in great shape as demonstrated by his gold medals at the Pacific Alliance Championship and the Russian Cup. The Japanese team will be led by 2005 World silver medalist Yasuhiro Ueyama and 2005 World bronze medalist Tetsuya Sotomura. Ueyama proved his great shape at the Pacific Alliance Championship where he won a silver medal. Sotomura had a so-so showing in Honolulu. The other two members of the Japanese team are a little more surprising as the promising Masaki Ito and veteran Takayuki Kawanishi were preferred over Shunsuke Nagasaki, Daisuke Nakata or Masaki Hitomi.
The 2005 World Champion Chinese team should be one of the main attractions of the event. It will star Que Zhicheng and Liu Qipeng, who both won medals in individual at the 2005 World Cups. Que finished 4th at the 2005 World Championships. The international observers should keep an attentive eye on the new Chinese wonder Lu Chunlong, who will compete at his first major international event in the senior category as he just reached the minimum age to compete at such international meets. He recently turned 17. Lu won the 10th Chinese National Games (the equivalent of the Olympics on the Chinese scale) back in October 2005, beating all the members of the Chinese team and scoring very high totals. He also won the 2001 and 2003 WAGCs in his age group. A question mark with respect to Lu's participation surfaced last week-end as he sprained his ankle at a trial in China. The 4th member of the Chinese team is the very promising 18-year-old Ye Shuai, who usually begins his optional with a triffis rudy out pike. Ye won the trial in China this past week and reportedly competed a routine that would be the most difficult in the world.
The 2003 World Champion German team is very impressive as well with 2003 
World Champion Henrik Stehlik, 2005 Krasnodar World Cup winner Adam Goetz, veteran Markus Kubicka, and 2005 German Champion Martin Gromowski. All these four athletes will contend for a medal. Stehlik is getting better and better competition after competition as he won the German Championship this past week-end. Gromowski had the lead but fell in the final. Goetz dominated a couple of competitions earlier this year. Kubicka's participation appears uncertain as he had to withdraw at the German Championships due to injury. The big news on the French Team side will be the international comeback by former European Champion and World Cup Final winner David Martin, who has fully recovered from injury as demonstrated by the 16.0 pt routine he competed this past week-end at the French Cup. The French Team is notably improving on the way to the European Championships to be held in France. 2004 and 2005 French Champion Mickael Jala topped Martin at the French Cup by competing a 16.2 pt routine whereas Gregoire Pennes and Sebastien Martiny delivered solid routines. Gregoire Pennes has now fully recovered from last year's injury.
The World Cup will also feature 2005 World finalists Peter Jensen (DEN) and Flavio Cannone (ITA). Jensen recently won the International Grenzland Cup and also competed a 16.60 pt routine. He actually recently topped that by competing an unofficial world record 17.20 pt routine in an international meet (at the Copenhagen Cup) a little less than 2 weeks ago. The Ukrainian team will unfortunately not feature 2004 Olympic Champion Yuri Nikitin as he injured his knee in his sleep earlier this year. However, Nikitin seems to be on the way to recovery as he won the Ukrainian Championship last year. The team will nonetheless feature 2001 World silver medalist Alexander Chernonos, who is making a comeback after a one year break. The U.S. team will feature Chris Estrada, who did well at the Pacific Alliance Championship, the Grenzland Cup and the Winter Classic. The Swiss Team will feature Michel Boillet and Ludovic Martin, who did well at the Worlds both in individual and synchro (silver medal). The roster of the Dutch Team surprisingly features 2001 World bronze medalist Alan Villafuerte, even though he has not yet competed this year as he is on his way to recovery after a shoulder injury. The British team will be led by Gary Smith, finalist at the 2005 Krasnodar World Cup, as Simon Milnes will not compete. Team Canada will feature 2006 Canada Cup winner Charles Thibault and 2005 Canadian Champion Bryan Milonja. Jason Burnett will not be in Ghent even though he won a bronze medal at the recent Pacific Alliance Championship. The Belarus Team will line up only two men: 2005 synchro World Champions Nikolai Kazak and Vladimir Kakorko, who had a so-so showing at the Russian Team Championship last month. The Australian Team should be very competitive with Scott Brown, Ben Wilden, 2000 Olympic silver medalist Ji Wallace, and 2005 Australian Champion Viktor Zhuravlev. The Portuguese team should also be very competitive with 2004 Olympic finalist Nuno Merino, Diogo Ganchinho and Diogo Faria. The Spanish team will be led by Alex Cuenca, fresh off a new Spanish Champion title.
The women's trampoline event should also be top notch as all finalists of the 2005 World Championships will be there. The favorite will once again be Irina Karavaeva (RUS), who won her 4th World Champion title in individual at the 2005 World Championships in Eindhoven (NED). The 2000 Olympic Champion and 3-time European Champion holds a record of 19 wins at World Cups, including the past five bi-annual World Cup Finals. No other woman has won more than six World Cup events. Karavaeva seems in great shape as she convincingly won the recent Pacific Alliance Championship and Russian Cup. The danger for Karavaeva could come from several rivals including her teammate Natalia Chernova, who won the silver medal at the 2005 Worlds. The danger could also come from 2003 World Champion Karen Cockburn (CAN), the sole Canadian lady competing in Ghent. 2004 Olympic bronze medalist Huang Shanshan (CHN) should also be watched, as well as her teammates Zhong Xingping, who finaled at all 2005 World Cups she competed in, and Luo Dan, who finished 10th at the Worlds.
2004 Olympic Champion Anna Dogonadze has the habit of stepping up at major events and 
could end up with a gold medal. Claire Wright (GBR), the winner of the 2005 Sofia World Cup, will try to bounce back from disappointing Worlds, to win a new medal. The other athletes to watch for in the women's trampoline event include Andrea Lenders (NED), who finished 4th at the 2005 Worlds, Alaina Hebert (USA), who took the 5th place at the 2005 Worlds, 2003 World silver medalist Elena Movchan (UKR), 2004 European Youth Champion Ana Rente, and 2006 International Grenzland Cup winner Claudia Prat (ESP). Tatiana Petrenia (BLR), who will not be seconded by Elena Tarasevich this time, will also try to bounce back from disappointing Worlds. The French Team will unfortunately not yet feature Marina Ducroux-Murinova, the 2004 European silver medalist who recently obtained the French citizenship and won the French Cup. The team will nonetheless feature three trampolinists capable of competing routines of 13.0+ pts (Julie Perreten, Laetitia Hauwelle and Aurelie Gratay). The Japanese team will feature Olympic finalist Haruka Hirota and Hiromi Hanmoto.
The men's tumbling event is also highly anticipated as it will feature 2005 World Champion Wang Jiexu (CHN) and 2005 World silver medalist Chen Yang (CHN). It will be only their second international competition as they had never competed outside China before taking the tumbling world by storm at the 2005 World Championships. There, they outclassed all their rivals, and Wang won by beating countless World records, including the highest difficulty world record. Unfortunately, the Chinese tumbling team will feature only two men despite the fact that many other Chinese tumblers could be among the best in the world, as shown at the 2005 Chinese National Games. The Russian team will also feature only two tumblers: Tagir Murtazaev and veteran Alexei Batienko, who recently won the Russian Team Championship. The Chinese's main rival could be once again 18-year-old Jozef Wadecki (POL), the 2005 World bronze medalist, who displayed all his talent and great shape at the 2006 French Cup and Polish Championship that he won this past week-end.
The competition will also feature Yves Tarin (FRA), who was 4th at the 2005 Worlds, his teammate Nicolas Fournials (FRA), who won the 2000 and 2002 World Cup Finals, and Damien Walters (GBR), who finished 5th at the 2005 Worlds. 2005 World finalist Sergei Berestovsky (KAZ) and Sergei Bondarenko (BLR) will be in Ghent too. 2004 World Cup Final winner Andrei Kabishev (BLR) and 2005 World Finalist Casey Finley (USA) will be the main absentees in Ghent.
The favorite of the women's tumbling event will be 2005 World Champion Anna Korobeynikova (RUS) as her traditional rival Elena Chabanenko (UKR) will not be in Ghent. Former World Champions Kathryn Peberdy (GBR - injury), Elena Bluzhina (RUS), and Natalia Rakhmanova (RUS) will not compete in Ghent either. Bluzhina and Rakhmanova may have retired as they did not compete at the recent Russian national competitions either. 2005 Ostend World Cup winner Yuliya Hall (USA) and 2005 Krasnodar World Cup winner Anna Terenia (BLR) will not be in Belgium either. 16-year-old Alina Yarullova (RUS), who recently rivaled with Korobeynikova in Russia, is still too young to compete at international events. Korobeynikova did very well at the recent Russian Cup with passes that obtained scores significantly better than her own world record.
Korobeynikova's main competition might be coming from 2005 World bronze medalist Samantha Palmer (GBR), Alexis Diaz (USA), who finished 4th at the 2005 Worlds, Zoe McLean (GBR) and Emily Smith (CAN), who both won medals at the 2005 Ostend World Cup. The French Team should also be watched as it will be Melanie Avisse's international comeback. Her three teammates, Emeline Millory, Delphine Francois, and Marion Limbach are regulars within the world top 10. An eye should be kept on Ana Conde (POR) as well.
530 athletes representing 56 clubs from 17 countries will also compete at the Partena International Cup of Flanders in trampoline, tumbling and double mini-trampoline. The athletes will compete by age groups.
Thanks to Mieke Standaert for providing us with the most updated and complete start list and Yves Moerman for sending us the list of the main stars to be watched in Ghent.
Link to the rosters
Link to the list of the main stars to compete in Ghent
Link to source
Link to other source
Link to the official website of the Partena Cup of Flanders - Ghent World Cup
Link to the biographies of the main athletes (from the official website)
Link to video presentation
Link to other source
Link to other source
Link to other source
Top
