KITAKYUSHU, Japan, Oct. 23 (Xinhua) -- China's newly crowned world all-around champion Zhang Boheng has withdrawn from the rings and parallel bars finals at the World Artistic Gymnastics Championships after suffering a recurrence of a low back injury.
Chinese team manager Ye Zhennan told Xinhua that Zhang found it hard to continue the competition Saturday morning because of the lumbar spine pain.
"He applied to pull out of the two finals to avoid getting worse," Ye said. "We have informed the organizers of his application."
Zhang, 21, shocked Olympic champion Hashimoto Daiki by 0.017 points to win the men's all-around title Friday night. He has been scheduled to compete in the rings final Saturday afternoon and the parallel bars final on Sunday.
His teammate Shi Cong, who finished fourth in the parallel qualification, will take his place and Italy's Marco Lodadio will replace him in the rings.
Hashimoto was also confirmed to skip the floor exercise and pommel horse finals due to "wrist and back injuries," Japanese newspaper Sports Daily said.
But Hashimoto will still compete in the parallel bars and horizontal bar finals on Sunday. Enditem