by Mara Vigevani
Linoy Ashram, a 19-year-old Israeli athlete, won a silver medal in the hoop exercise at the Rhythmic Gymnastics World Championships in Sofia, Bulgaria on Tuesday.
This is the first time that an Israeli gymnast has achieved a silver medal in this category during a world championship.
Ashram received a score of 20 points and was surpassed only by Russian gymnast Dina Averina, who received a score of 20.85.
This is the first time Israel has sent two gymnasts to the World Rhythmic Gymnastics Championships. Ashram’s teammate, 17-year-old Nicol Zelikman, made it to the fifth place during the hoop exercise with 19.5 points.
Zelikman also progressed into the final for the ball exercises, an exercise in which Ashram failed in the early stage.
Despite her weak performance for the ball event, Ashram declared her aim was to win a medal at the all-around competition, which includes hoops, ball, clubs and ribbon exercises and is also the only gymnastics field at the Tokyo Olympics.
Shortly after the conclusion of the competition Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu took to Twitter to congratulate Ashram, writing that her performance was an “Awesome achievement.”
In August, Ashram broke a world record at the Gymnastics World Cup with a score of 20.65. Last year, the rhythmic gymnast also won a bronze medal during the all-around competition during at World Championship in Italy.
