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  • Day 1 Qualification Results: Hoop | Ball

CLUJ NAPOCA, Romania, Aug. 23, 2019 — Laura Zeng of Libertyville, Ill./North Shore Rhythmic Gymnastics, and Camilla Feeley of Deerfield, Ill./North Shore Rhythmic Gymnastics Center, advanced to the ball final with their sixth- and eighth-place finishes, respectively, in the qualifying round at the Cluj Napoca (Romania) World Challenge Cup after two of four event qualifications. Held at the BT Arena, competition continues tomorrow with the qualification rounds for clubs and ribbon at 2 p.m., local time (7:45 a.m. ET). The all-around final rankings will be determined tomorrow also, and competition concludes on Aug. 25 with the event finals.

In the ball qualifying round, Zeng posted a 20.750 for sixth, and Feeley’s 20.350 solidified her qualification to the final with an eighth-place ranking. Russia’s Ekaterina Selezneva had the top score at 22.750. For hoop, Feeley was 16th (18.950) and Zeng 19th (18.400). Israel’s Linoy Ashram earned the event’s best qualification score of 20.100.

In the all-around rankings after two of four events, Feeley is 15th at 39.300, just ahead of Zeng in 16th at 39.150. Ashram leads Selezneva for the top spot, 46.000 to 45.500. Ukraine’s Vlada Nikolchenko is in third at 44.950.

The competition schedule is qualifications at 2 p.m. for clubs and ribbon on the 23rd, and the event finals on Aug. 24 beginning at 1 p.m. local time, which is seven hours ahead of Eastern time. The USA is not competing in the group competition, which will have the qualification for three hoops/two pairs of clubs at 6:45 p.m. on the 23rd and the event finals on the 24th. Live scoring is available, and fans in the U.S. can watch the event finals live on NBCSports.com.