Xiao Qin, China's pommel king who took the silver at the 2001 Ghent worlds when he made debut in international arena, dropped off the horse in the qualification round of the Athens Olympics on Saturday.

His score of 9.337 was definitely out of the top eight of the apparatus in the qualification, which stripped him of the chance to play for China in the apparatus final.

Xiao's arch rival, Romanian Daniel Urzica, who edged Xiao in Ghent, got 9.812 points in the earlier stage of the qualification, which is the highest score in the apparatus so far.

Xiao, the only gymnast in the world who can keep body straight in turns and twists on pommel horse, fell from the horse nearly at the end of his routine today.

At the last year's world championships in the United States, both Xiao and Urzica collapsed on pommel horse, while Chinese young star Teng Haibin picked up the gold.

Teng, who dimmed on parallel bar this evening with the lowest points of 6.775 in the qualification, shined on pommel horse, taking 9.800 points. He kept China in hope to be crowned on the apparatus.

(Xinhua News Agency August 15, 2004)