Romania coach fumes at Ferrari victory

AARHUS, Denmark, Oct 20 (Reuters) Romanian coach Nicolae Forminte lashed out at the judges at the world gymnastics championships after Vanessa Ferrari was declared the winner of the women's all-round contest despite falling off the beam.

''Apparently you have to fall off an apparatus in order to become world champion. It's laughable,'' he told reporters yesterday.

''In the whole history of gymnastics, it never happened that a gymnast who falls won the world title.'' He later went up to silver medallist Jana Bieger of the United States at the news conference and told her ''You should sit in the middle'' pointing to the winner's chair.

The 16-year-old smiled at the suggestion and shrugged it off.

Forminte was critical of the judging process since both Bieger and his charge, Romania's Sandra Izbasa who finished with bronze, did not fall off from any of the four apparatus but were still outscored by the Italian.

After the third rotation, the standings were headed by China's Pang Panpan and Ferrari, both of whom had failed to maintain their footing on the 10cm piece of wood.

But while Pang's second major mistake of the day on the vault put her out of contention Ferrari brought the cheering crowd to her feet with her soaring tumble sequences on the floor.

She was rewarded with a score of 15.500 and this, Forminte felt, was way too generous.

''I went over to a friend from the floor judging panel and said that it's not possible for a routine with a difficulty of maximum 6.1 to get that kind of a mark,'' said Forminte.

''This new scoring system fuels these kinds of situations.'' Officials were quick to highlight that Ferrari's triumph proved the new cumulative scoring system, awarded for content and execution, was rewarding those who are willing to take risks with their performances.

''The competition is what it is, I can't comment on the judging,'' Izbasa said as she refused to get drawn into the argument.

''It was very important to me to prove that I can do four apparatus, including bars, and compete at a high level.'' Bieger also did not want to take anything away from Ferrari's victory and instead highlighted her own achievement.

''Winning the silver medal individually is fantastic, I never thought I would be in this place, I was just hoping to be on the podium.'' REUTERS AY HS1037