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Russia May Hit Low in Gymnastics

By RAF CASERT, Associated Press Writer

GHENT, Belgium (AP) - The Russian men were on course for historic lows after the opening day of the world gymnastics championships Sunday.

Russia made an awful start to the men's competition and top star Alexei Nemov said the team might not even make the final for the first time ever.

``I don't think we shall make the top eight,'' the multiple world and Olympic champion said after their disastrous qualifying routine which had more spills than thrills.

In the provisional standings of qualifying, which ends on Monday, Belarus was ahead of the United States and a surprising South Korea .

Russia was fifth. Nemov failed to make any of the apparatus finals, a stunning upset in itself. The U.S. team, adapting seamlessly to the new points system, took charge early but had to bow to the mastery of Belorussian Ivan Ivankov, who also leads the individual standings ahead of U.S. gymnasts Sean Townsend and Paul Hamm .

``It has been excellent,'' said Townsend, who was cheered by a small but vocal U.S. contingent among the 2,000 fans at the Flanders Sports Hall.

``It was a great day, awesome,'' Hamm said.

Russia has different ideas. On Monday, China, Romania, Germany and France could combine to push Russia out of Wednesday's final. Nemov and defending world champion Nikolai Krukov both fell off the parallel bars and few of Russia's second-tier stars made it through the six apparatus cleanly.

``We made quite a few mistakes,'' Nemov added, blaming a slew of injuries which have hit the team and the new system of awarding points. Ever since the Soviet Union, the Unified Team and Russia started competing in world and Olympic championships half a century ago, a fourth place has been its worst result in the men's team finals.

The Soviet Union boycotted the 1984 Olympics. On three apparatus, Nemov's best result was a provisional 10th on the high bar, not enough to make the top eight for the final. He is not competing in the all-around competition and if Russia is eliminated in the team event, his presence at the world championships will have been limited to the opening day alone.

In the team standings, Belarus totaled 222.132 points, just .712 ahead of the United States. South Korea is 1.275 behind. In the individual standings, Ivankov has 56.486 points, .912 ahead of Townsend and .925 over Hamm. Russia's problems were predictable.

Evgueni Podgorni ruled himself out after falling badly on his elbow in training Thursday. Defending world all-around champion Krukov has been nursing a nagging back injury, and Evgueni Krylov sustained a foot injury in training.

``In all, we only had three healthy gymnasts,'' Nemov said. Japan, fourth at the Olympics, pulled out for safety reasons after the terrorist attacks on the United States.