© John Cheng

MOSCOW, Russia, May 29, 2009 – 2008 Olympic bronze medalist Raj Bhavsar of Houston/Houston Gymnastics Academy, advanced to the finals for still rings and parallel bars at the 2009 World Stars, the first International Gymnastics Federation 2009 World Cup series.

In the qualification round at Moscow’s Olympic Sport Complex, Bhavsar placed fourth on still rings with a score of 15.025 and eighth on parallel bars by virtue of a tiebreaker after a score of 14.725 landed him in a three-way tie for sixth.

Guillermo Alvarez of Minneapolis/Minnesota Gymnastics, just missed qualifying for the finals on floor exercise and pommel horse. David Sender of Arlington Heights, Ill./Stanford University, barely missed advancing to the vault finals, losing by just .012 points.

Event finals will be held Saturday, May 30.