China's Artistic Gymnastics Women's team pose during the 2016 Rio Olympics. (Photo : Getty Images)
The Chinese gymnastics team takes the lead in the gymnastics qualifiers together with the Russian delegates, both of which encountered numerous difficulties during the event.
According to NBC Olympics, China's Shang Chunsong encountered a couple of hiccups during her turn in the vault where she scored an all-around total of 56.532.
"It's a pity that I failed to perform better in the balance beam. I really want to reach the final of the event, because I think I have great ability in this apparatus," 20-year-old Shang told the Chinese state-run Xinhua News Agency.
Joining her in the Chinese team are rookies Wang Yan who also made a mistake while landing the vault while Mao Yi failed to perform her specialty perfectly when she fell off the floor.
In a separate report, Xinhua explained that the women gymnasts from the Middle Kingdom had been suffering from illnesses prior to the opening of the 2016 Rio Olympics.
"The dining hall in the athletes' village is quite freezing. Shang caught a cold a few days ago and was having a fever," the outlet quoted Mao saying, referring to the Chinese gymnast team captain's bout with a flu.
Team China head coach Huang Yubin confirmed this and explained that Shang had been ill and weak for the past three days which is why she was not able to complete routines on the apparatus.
The outlet further noted that Shang refused to talk to them at the time because she looks a bit sick and pale.
Despite this, coach Huang and the other members of the team are confident that Shang would be able to recover in time for the event and pull through, something that did happen on Monday.
Meanwhile, Russia's gymnastics team also made it to the top with Aliya Mustafina shaking off jitters and performing in the best of her abilities during the games.
While the U.S. team led by three-time world champion Simone Biles appears to be unstoppable, the gymnasts of Team China and Team Russia are still confident that they will be able to put on a show.
