Lefteris Petrounias added another international medal to his collection after securing silver in the rings final at the Artistic Gymnastics World Cup in Baku, Azerbaijan, giving Greece another podium finish on the international stage.
The 35-year-old Olympic champion opted to repeat the same 5.6 difficulty routine he had presented in qualification. While the structure of his set remained unchanged, his execution score dropped to 8.700 from the 8.877 he had earned earlier in the competition. That left him with a total of 14.300 in the final, enough for second place but not enough to challenge for gold.
Petrounias leads Greece to silver in Baku rings final
Even Petrounias’ qualification mark of 14.466 would not have been enough to top the standings in Baku. First place went to Ilya Zaika, who produced the winning routine with 14.600.
Behind the top two, the battle for bronze was extremely close. Japan’s 24-year-old Kiichi Kaneta finished third with 14.233, narrowly edging Azerbaijan’s Nikita Simonov.
Although Simonov matched the same degree of difficulty, a slightly lower execution score left him fourth on 14.133.
Greece represented in multiple finals
Petrounias was not the only Greek gymnast to reach a final in Baku. Nikos Iliopoulos and Magdalini Tsiouri also competed for Greece, appearing in the parallel bars and uneven bars finals respectively.
Both athletes finished sixth in their events, giving the Greek team additional strong results beyond Petrounias’ medal-winning performance and underlining the country’s wider presence at the competition.
President Tasoulas congratulates Petrounias
President of the Hellenic Republic Konstantinos Tasoulas praised Petrounias after the silver-medal performance, saying the veteran gymnast had once again made the country proud.
In his statement, Tasoulas said Petrounias had added another success to his long and impressive career with his silver medal at the Artistic Gymnastics World Cup in Baku, while once again placing Greece on the winners’ podium. He also extended his warm congratulations on the achievement.