Serious training accident for Japanese gymnast Hitomi Hatakeda, who suffered a spinal injury after falling at the asymmetrical bars while preparing for the final at the Gymnastics World Championships, taking place in Kitakyushu (Japan).
According to the Japanese federation, in the impact with the ground, the 21-year-old Hatakeda suffered damage to the central spinal cord and fractures to the cervical vertebrae, but new investigations and examinations will be carried out tomorrow.
The athlete, who also participated in the Tokyo Olympics, was preparing for tomorrow's all-around final, which she qualified with fourth overall.
As far as was known, while she was in the middle of the exercise, in a transition from the low to the top bar, she fell, hitting her chin on the floor.
Immediately rescued, she was taken to hospital by ambulance on a backboard, painful but conscious.
With her was her mother, a former gymnast and her trainer.
His father, Yoshiaki Hatakeda is also a former gymnast who won bronze in the team competition at the 1992 Olympics
