China Wins Team Gold at Asian Gymnastics Championships

China’s men’s gymnastics team claimed the gold medal at the 13th Asian Gymnastics Championships on June 18 in Zunyi, Guizhou Province, while Chinese gymnasts Zhang Boheng and Yang Haonan swept the top two positions in the individual all-around competition, reaffirming the nation’s supremacy in the sport at the continental level.

Competing at the Zunyi Olympic Sports Center, the Chinese team posted a commanding total of 254.194 points to finish well ahead of Japan, who took silver with 248.795 points. South Korea secured bronze with 242.561 points, according to People’s Daily.

Event Returns to China After 14 Years

The championships, which serve as a qualifying event for the 2026 World Gymnastics Championships in Rotterdam and the Aichi-Nagoya Asian Games, are being held in China for the first time in 14 years. This edition also marks the first time the competition has been staged in western China, with Zunyi — a city in Guizhou Province — hosting the event at its newly equipped Olympic Sports Center.

More than 20 countries and regions are participating in the championships, which run from June 15 to 29. The women’s competition is scheduled to begin on June 25, while individual apparatus finals for both senior and junior divisions will take place on June 20-21.

Comeback on the Pommel Horse

The men’s team final featured six apparatus: floor exercise, pommel horse, rings, vault, parallel bars, and horizontal bar. China started slowly, trailing Japan after a below-par performance on floor exercise. However, the team turned the competition around on pommel horse, executing high-quality routines that propelled them into the lead — a position they maintained through the remaining four apparatus.

“The best thing about the team competition is that everyone kept their composure,” Zhang Boheng told reporters via China News Service. “During the pommel horse event, everyone was quite nervous. After successfully completing the pommel horse, everyone gradually relaxed and found their competition rhythm.”

Zhang, the Paris 2024 Olympic all-around silver medalist, led off on pommel horse with a routine that, while not of the highest difficulty, was executed with exceptional precision. “Today was just a normal performance,” he said. “There are still many flaws in the routine that need to be polished and improved.”

Individual All-Around Podium Sweep

In the individual all-around, Zhang Boheng claimed gold with a score of 85.298 points. Yang Haonan secured silver with 82.398 points, edging out Japan’s Sanrin Teppei, who took bronze with 82.265 points, as reported by CCTV Sports.

Yang Haonan, who made a mistake on parallel bars but performed strongly on rings and vault, acknowledged areas for improvement. “Going forward, I need to strengthen training on weaknesses like floor exercise landings and parallel bars stability, and polish my all-around comprehensive strength,” he said.

Broader Significance and Local Impact

The return of the Asian Gymnastics Championships to China after 14 years, and its debut in western China, reflects the country’s strategy of dispersing major sporting events beyond traditional coastal hubs. Guizhou Bank, a local financial institution, served as a sponsor for the event, with its sports-related loan balance reaching nearly 700 million RMB as of May 2026, according to the 21st Century Business Herald.

The championships are part of Guizhou’s broader strategy to establish itself as a “mountainous ethnic sports powerhouse” and develop sports tourism in the region.

What to Watch For

With the men’s team and all-around titles secured, attention now turns to the individual apparatus finals on June 20-21, where Chinese gymnasts will aim to add to their medal tally. The women’s competition begins on June 25, and the championships will ultimately determine qualification slots for the World Championships and Asian Games later this year.

For Zhang Boheng and Yang Haonan, the Asian Championships serve as a critical stepping stone toward the Nagoya Asian Games and Rotterdam World Championships, where they will face stiffer international competition beyond the Asian stage.