The latest from USA Gymnastics: The U.S. men's A-team, trying out a few new faces like pommel standout Alex Naddour (watch for him; he's not bad in the all-around either) and John Orozco (healed up from a partially torn right Achilles at last summer's U.S. Championships) are doing a kind of dry run for the World Championships at the Japan Cup.
Expect this July 2-3 meet to be well attended once teams get over their fear of traveling to Japan, since it's critical for them to get experience in Tokyo before the World Championships.
It's worth noting that in the absence of China at the 2010 Japan Cup, the host team won the meet, followed by Germany, followed by the U.S. China snagged the top spot at the World Championships three months later, but the order from there down (Japan, then Germany, then the U.S.) didn't change.
Meanwhile, a mix of up-and-comers and top juniors are heading to the Puerto Rico Cup in San Juan July 8-10 and the Korean Cup in Goyang the same weekend.
Here are the U.S. men scheduled to compete:
Japan Cup, Tokyo
Format: team (five-man team, with three gymnasts competing on each apparatus), July 2; all-around, July 3
- Jonathan Horton, Team Hilton HHonors
- Steven Legendre, Team Hilton HHonors
- Danell Leyva, Team Hilton HHonors
- Alexander Naddour, Oklahoma
- John Orozco, USOTC
- Coaches: Mark Williams (Oklahoma) and Tom Meadows (Cypress Academy)
Puerto Rico Cup: San Juan, July 8-10
Format: team (six-man team, five compete on each apparatus and top four scores count) and all-around, July 8; individual events, July 9-10
- Dylan Akers, Cypress Academy
- Adrian de los Angeles, SCATS HB
- Andrew Elkind, USOTC
- Sam Mikulak, Michigan
- Tyler Mizoguichi, Illinois
- Brandon Wynn, Team Hilton HHonors
- Coaches: Justin Spring (Illinois) and Grigor Chalikyan (SCATS HB)
Korean Cup: Goyang, July 9-10
Format: individual event competition
Sean Melton, Orlando Metro
Jesse Silverstein, Team Hilton HHonors
Coach: Casimiro Suarez of Orlando Metro
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