Fairies unleashed: gold and silver in the individual general competition inEuropean homely. It is an extraordinary Italy on the home platforms of the pavilions of the Rimini Fair, home of this continental artistic gymnastics exhibition. In the all around, the Olympic race par excellence, Manila Esposito she became European champion with 55,432 points (vault 13.566, uneven bars 14.066, beam 14.200, floor exercise 13.600). The 17 year old from Torre Annunziata, province of Naples, and of the Fiamme Oro Sports Group wins ahead of another Italian, the Genoese policewoman Alice D’Amatowhich gets the score of 54,831 (vault 13.966, uneven bars 14.633, beam 13.766, floor exercise 12.466). A memorable double in the individual general competition – it is an absolute first – and it could have ended with a hat-trick if it were not for the anachronistic rule of places per Nation: in fact, Angela Andreoli she finished third with 53,766 points, but he cannot celebrate because the rule provides for a maximum of two athletes per country on the podium, and therefore Andreoli must leave the medal to the British Alice Kinsella, fourth with 53.599 (vault 14.000, uneven bars 14.000, beam 12.800, floor exercise 13.466). In terms of Italy, there is also the pass for the team final on Sunday, separated by Alice D’Amato, Asia D’Amato, Manila Esposito, Elisa Iorio and Angela Andreoli, provisionally in first place. It’s a shame about the injury to Asia D’Amato, who hurt herself in the floor exercise. Alice’s twin touched her right knee (the one already operated on) upon arrival from the double harvest and now she will have to undergo the necessary tests.
Boxing, on 3 May Armando Casamonica against Gianluca Picardi for the Italian super-lightweight title
The clarifications of the Italian team and the coach
She had made her debut at the European Championships in Antalya and in the Turkish event she had won a silver on the beam, but Manila Esposito (who grabbed the 10th continental gold in the history of Italian women’s artistic competition) started again in a great way: «This competition went better than last year, because last year I wasn’t able to do the race I wanted. I managed to redeem myself and I will try to do better on beam in the team event. Asia’s injury destabilized the team’s balance. I wish you the best of luck. She is a strong girl. I’m sure she will get back up stronger than before.”
Dazed by her twin’s problem, Alice D’Amato still managed to finish the race and finish second behind her teammate Esposito: «I managed to achieve this result thanks to my character, the people I had around me, my teammates and my coach. On the race field they told me not to throw anything away, because I was doing it both for her and for Asia. I dedicate the medal above all to her».
Finally, coach Enrico Casella’s comment: «On the eve of this competition the objectives were to arrive first with the team, put two gymnasts on the podium in the all-around and enter with at least two gymnasts in each final. We did even better. Unfortunately, Asia’s injury ruined all plans. But I saw a great reaction from the girls, just think that Angela Andreoli didn’t even have to do all the apparatus and had to replace Asia on the parallel bars, she did all the apparatus and came third, but due to the rule that you cannot reward more than two athletes per nation we didn’t get gold, silver and bronze. This says a lot about the depth of the team. A great result for Italy was what we aimed for. Now we have this injury and we will have to review our plans for the next competitions.”
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