Captain Rachel raises her own bar as she leads team into final

NATIONAL artistic gymnastics captain Rachel Yeoh Li Wen (pic) led her team to secure their spot in today’s team final in style after they finished fifth in the women’s team qualifiers at the Aichi-Nagoya Games yesterday.

The 27-year-old Rachel attempted a new routine in the uneven bars and went on to better her personal record – scoring 14.000 to eclipse her previous best of 13.800 at the Commonwealth Games qualifiers in July.

“Rachel put in a really strong performance. She debuted a new routine and surpassed her personal record,” said coach Ng Shu Wai.

Making their Asiad debuts, Rachel and teammates Cadence Teh Zi Qi, Nicole Wong Ziyi, Yap Kang Xian and Marissa Zaiful Azlan scored a combined 147.864 points to advance within the top eight at the Nagoya City General Gymnasium.

Shu Wai, however, remains cautious of the tough competition ahead, particularly from defending champions China, who qualified in second place with 165.697 points.

“Each mistake tomorrow will cost one point. So the girls need to be careful not to throw away any points,” he said.

“It could go down to the wire for a podium spot.”

Besides the team event, three-time SEA Games gold medalist Rachel also qualified for the individual uneven bars final with her fifth-place finish.

Kang Xian and Marissa also advanced to the vault final, finishing sixth and eighth, respectively.

Both individual finals are scheduled for tomorrow.