Becky Downie insists Great Britain can take plenty of heart from their performance after finishing sixth in the women’s team final at the World Artistic Gymnastics Championships in Nanning.
The British team featured no fewer than three World Championship debutantes in Kelly Simm, Gabby Jupp and Claudia Fragapane while Downie, Hannah Whelan and Ruby Harrold made up the remainder of the squad.
And in a high quality final, they put in a solid performance to post a score of 168.496 points to finish just short of their record fifth placing from Tokyo in 2011.
Gold went to the USA with a total of 179.280 – the American team comfortably outscoring hosts China with Russia taking bronze.
And 2008 Olympian Downie, who top scored in bars and beam for Great Britain, believes the result bodes well for chasing a medal at Rio 2016.
“Overall we can be really pleased. It was an incredible atmosphere out there and we all held it together as a team and put in strong performances,” she said.
“Of course we would like to have been in the medals but we are definitely happy and proud to have a team that is looking so strong and that is progressing so well.
“The younger girls came in and showed they are more than ready for the major senior competitions and that’s really exciting for GB looking ahead to the next Olympics.”
© Sportsbeat 2014