Uchimura gymnastics protest pays off with gold

World all-around champion Kohei Uchimura's protest to the jury paid off as he lifted his first-ever individual apparatus gold medal Saturday. The 22-year-old Japanese, who coasted to an unprecedented third straight all-around title on Friday, opened his event-by-event challenge on his favourite floor exercise at the world gymnastic championships in Tokyo. He scored a modest 15.433 points, prompting his side to protest because only two of three twists he made in a tumbling move were counted by the judges. China's Olympic floor champion Zou Kai performed next and scored 15.500. After Zou finished, the jury announced it upgraded Uchimura's difficulty score from 6.5 to 6.7, leaving the Japanese at the top with 15.633. Brazil's Diego Hypolito and Alexander Shatilov of Israel shared third spot with 15.466 each. Uchimura did not think the twisting leap was so complicated that it would confuse the jury. "I didn't make it hard to be seen. I was convinced it would boost my value points." "The floor gold medal is something that I should cherish. But I'm not satisfied with how I performed," said Uchimura. He has been an invincible all-rounder after finishing second at the 2008 Beijing Olympics but never won an apparatus title. He was second on the floor exercise and third on the parallel bars last year. But later in the day, Uchimura fell from the pommel horse and could not hold himself steady in a cross on the horizontal bar to place fifth and sixth respectively. "I really wanted to win the gold on the floor but I just tried to show what I got on the pommel horse and the rings just like an entertainer." He was due to perform on the parallel bars and the horizontal bar on the final day of individual finals on Sunday. Saturday saw China's Olympic rings gold medallist Chen Yibing win his fourth world championship title. The 27-year-old veteran, who won the world rings titles in 2006, 2007 and 2010, scored 15.800 points with Brazil's Arthur Nabarrete Zanetti second on 15.600 and Japan's Koji Yamamuro third with 15.500. The Chinese men's squad, the Olympic champions, lifted their fifth straight world team title on Wednesday with Japan second for the third straight time. But they lacked all-rounders like Uchimura. "Me and my team cannot readily comment on today's results," he said. "After coming home, I want to take time in analysing the results with my teammates to build up for the Olympics." "Our advantage over other countries is not apparent. Personally I have many things to reflect on. I want to work hard so that I won't disappoint people." In other events, Hungary's Krisztian Berki retained his pommel horse title. Youth Olympic champion Viktoria Komova, who finished second to fellow 16-year-old and US national champion Jordyn Wieber in the women's all-around final, led Russia's one-two finish in the uneven bars final with Tatiana Nabieva. American McKayla Maroney, 16, won the vault title for her first-ever world-class medal.