AICHI, Japan, Dec. 11, 2010 – 2010 U.S. Horizontal Bar silver-medalist Paul Ruggeri of Manlius, N.Y., won the bronze medal on floor exercise at the 2010 Toyota Cup in Aichi, Japan. Competition concludes Sunday, Dec. 12.

Ruggeri, who competes for the University of Illinois and was the alternate for the 2010 U.S. Men’s World Championships Team, won the bronze medal on floor with a score of 15.175. World all-around champion Kohei Uchimura of Japan won the floor title with a 15.650. World floor bronze-medalist Daniel Purvis of Great Britain took the silver medal with a 15.200.

RJ Heflin of Houston/Houston Gymnastics Academy, made his senior international debut, finishing 11th on floor exercise and 10th on pommel horse with 13.750 and 12.750, respectively. World pommel horse silver-medalist Louis Smith of Great Britain won the pommel horse gold medal, scoring a 15.600.

Mingyong Yan of China of took the title on still rings.

The two-day, individual event concludes with men’s vault, parallel bars and horizontal bar on Sunday, Dec. 12 at 2 p.m. JST. Ruggeri will compete on all three events, and 2008 Olympic team bronze-medalist Joey Hagerty of Albuquerque, N.M., will compete on parallel bars and horizontal bar.

The 10-country field featured five 2010 World Championship medalist including World all-around champion Kohei Uchimura of Japan; parallel bars champion Feng Zhe and high bar champion Zhang Chenglong, both of China; vault champion Thomas Bouhail of France; floor bronze-medalist Daniel Purvis and pommel horse silver-medalist Louis Smith, both of Great Britain.

–Note: Japanese Standard Time is 14 hours ahead of Eastern Standard Time.

Toyota Cup
Aichi, Japan
Dec. 11, 2010
Day 1 Men’s Results

Floor Exercise
1. Kohei Uchimura, Japan, 15.650
2. Daniel Purvis, Great Britain, 15.200
3. Paul Ruggeri, Manlius, N.Y., 15.175
Other U.S. Finish
11. RJ Heflin, Houston, 13.750

Pommel Horse
1. Louis Smith, Great Britain, 15.600
2. Chang Ju HA, Korea, 15.000
3. Kenya Kobayashii, Japan, 14.975
Top U.S. Finish
10. RJ Heflin, Houston, 12.750

Still Rings
1. Mingyong Yan, China, 15.825
2. Koji Yamamuro, Japan, 15.550
3. Denis Ablyazin, Russia, 15.225