Portsmouth gymnasts make capital gains

The youngsters from the city showed their class with outstanding displays.

It was part of a busy schedule for the Portsmouth Gymnastics Centre (PGC) boys.

In the under-eight level one category, Portsmouth entered five gymnasts.

Alex Fraser took the gold on floor for his brilliant routine.

Henry Drackett earned a bronze on the pommel and a gold on the rings.

Louie Pinhorne produced a brilliant performance all-around to be crowned all-around champion and he also added silver medals on floor and pommel.

Duro Houghton, Osondu-Tugbobo and Jack Sheen all performed superbly.

Leighton Critchett was in brilliant form in the level one under-nine category to get all-around bronze and also bronze medals for his pommel routine and on parallel bars.

Faris Akhtar competed well in level three to finish 22nd, while at elite level Jude Moore and Loic Adedze both performed strongly to finish 19th and 27th respectively among many of the best in the country.

In level two, Isaiah Lewis-Powell produced some good routines with seventh on pommel and fifth on parallel bars being the highlights. He finished 26th all-around.

Senior and junior gymnasts from Portsmouth were up against European, world and Olympic medallists.

Sam Budden competed only on two pieces of apparatus due to a slight injury but successfully performed new routines on floor and vault. In the under-18 age group Jack Helps and James Leaver both competed all-around to finish 14th and 18th respectively. 

Competing in the under-14 championships Felix Coomber (14th) and Joshua Windebank (28th) did well in a field of more than 50 high-quality gymnasts. The highlight for Felix was a new floor routine performed excellently (12.35).

Portsmouth's under-eight gymnasts showed their amazing potential in the South of England Setwork Championships.

Some great results for PGC saw Alex Fraser (third), Jack Sheen (fifth), Duro Houghton Osundu-Tugbobo (fourth), Henry Drackett (second), Louie Pinhorne (first), Elijah Robinson (eighth), James Kendrick (11th), Jasper Baker (ninth), Bertie O'Sullivan (sixth), Clayton Ymeraj (12th) and Xander Barnett-Brown (13th) all impress.

This was by far the biggest entry of gymnasts from one club in the south region.

Under-eight gymnasts are not eligible for to progress to the national finals but this stands them in great stead for the future.

For the other age groups this is the primary selection event for the south of England teams that go forward to the national finals in Birmingham in November.

At level one for under-nines Portsmouth's Wilf Jackson won the all-around title and Leighton Critchett took the bronze. Both boys had brilliant competitions and will be in the southern region team in November.

Faris Akhtar competed in the challenging level three category and finished eighth all-around, taking second on floor.

In the elite categories Jude Moore and Loic Adedze continued to build on their results from London by finishing second and third all-around '“ also booking their place in the national finals. Isaiah Lewis-Powell took the all-around bronze medal in level two, along with a place in his second national finals.