© John Cheng
INDIANAPOLIS, Ind., June 7, 2010 – 2008 Olympic high bar silver-medalist and reigning U.S. all-around champion Jonathan Horton of Houston headlines the five-man U.S. squad that will compete in the 2010 Japan Cup, July 3-4, at the Tokyo (Japan) Metropolitan Gymnasium, site of the 2011 World Gymnastics Championships.
Joining Horton on the team are: Chris Cameron of Winter Haven, Fla./University of Michigan, 2010 NCAA all-around champion; Danell Leyva of Miami/Universal Gymnastics, fourth-place finisher on the horizontal bar at the 2010 World Championships; Alex Naddour of Mesa, Ariz./University of Oklahoma, 2010 NCAA and Moscow Stars pommel horse champion; and Paul Ruggeri of Manlius, N.Y./University of Illinois, 2010 Moscow Stars high bar bronze medalist. Chris Brooks of Houston, the 2010 Winter Cup champion who trains at the University of Oklahoma, is the alternate. Horton trains at Cypress Gymnastics. Tom Meadows and Yuan Xiao will coach the U.S. team.
The United States will join an eight team field that includes England, Russia, Germany and Japan in the team competition on July 3. In the team competition, three gymnasts compete on each apparatus and all three scores count toward the team score, just like in the finals of the World Championships and Olympic Games. Based on performances during the team competition, the top 12 gymnasts, with a maximum of two per country, advance to the all-around finals on July 4. The event will be televised on Fuji Television Network.