SAO PAULO, Brazil, May 1, 2015 – Akash Modi of Morganville, N.J./Stanford University, and John Orozco of the Bronx, N.Y./Team Hilton HHonors (U.S. Olympic Training Center), both advanced to final rounds at the World Challenge Cup at the Ibirapuera Gymnasium in Sao Paulo, Brazil. Finals are scheduled for May 2-3.
Modi will compete in the finals for the floor exercise, pommel horse and parallel bars, and Orozco advanced for the parallel bars and horizontal bar.
In the preliminary round, Modi was sixth in the floor rankings at 14.750, and Chile’s Enrique Sepulveda had the top score at 15.800. On pommel horse, Modi was second at 14.600, following China’s Zhang Hongtao’s 15.800. Orozco finished 10th at 13.800.
Orozco took third in the horizontal bar qualification round (14.800), placing behind Argentina’s Nicolas Cordoba and China’s Ji Lianshen, who were tied at 15.100. Modi was 13th with 12.950. For parallel bars prelims, Orozco was fourth with 15.150 (earning the same score as China’s Ji Lianshen). Modi came in sixth at 14.700 to advance to the final. Germany’s Lukas Dauser and China’s Zhu Xiaodong had the best prelim mark at 15.650.
The final rounds are set for: Saturday May 2, 2 p.m. – men’s pommel horse, still rings and vault, and women’s vault and uneven bars; and Sunday, May 3, 10 a.m. – men’s still rings, pommel horse and floor exercise, and women’s balance beam and floor exercise. All times are local.