Arabian bring back the Belgian bronze medals

Arabian Gymnastics picked up a brilliant third place at 22nd Tournoi International held in Stembert, Belgium.

Five Arabian gymnasts travelled on two flights, five trains and four taxi rides to participate in a remote part of Belgium in an International event that had a host of European counties represented.

But it was worth it when Lucy Thompson took first place on vault and was two whole marks clear of her nearest rival on floor taking also taking the win.

She was second on beam and was the all-round Bronze medal placed gymnast.

Dagmara Koziolek was the youngest on the trip at 12-year-old, and came first on the vault, third on bars and fourth on floor and beam giving her an overall placing of fourth place.

Natalia, 14, amazingly came third on all four pieces of bars, floor vault and beam giving her an all round overall bronze medal.

Ellie Hewitt was fifth on vault, seventh on bars, fourth on beam and sixth on floor giving her a overall placing of sixth.

The eldest to compete was Hannah Bond at 20, and she was seventh on vault, beam and floor, sixth on Bars. Overall she came seventh.

When the final scores were accumulated, it means Arabian took home bronze medals and the third place team trophy, beating off competition from eight other countries to stand on the podium.

Head coach Alan Armitage said: “The girls endured a very partizan crowd where no-one spoke English so the girls certainly felt the intense pressure of being in the unknown.

“They also had to wait five hours whilst the last round competed before the presentation, so by the end of the event they were very tired, but never stopped smiling and did the clubs sponsors “The Engineering Quest”, the club, myself as coach and country very proud.”