Kitakyushu, Japan-On Friday, Chinese player Zhang Boheng defeated Olympic champion Hashimoto Oki and won the gold medal in the men's all-around event of the World Gymnastics Championships.

Zhang, who was not eligible to participate in the summer Olympics this year, entered the final device, the horizontal bar-Hashimoto's win at the Tokyo Olympics, with a narrow lead over the local favorite, Hashimoto.

Hashimoto scored 15.133 points, while Zhang scored 14.800 points, but this was not enough to close the gap, because the 21-year-old Zhang finished Hashimoto’s 87.964 points with a total score of 87.981.

"This is the first time I have participated in the World Championships and the first time I have won an all-around championship for my country," Zhang said. "I was nervous while waiting for the score to appear because it was so close and such a high-level game."

He became the first Chinese men's all-around world champion since Xiao Ruoteng in 2017.

Illia Kovtun of Ukraine ranked third with 84.899 points, followed by Yul Moldauer of the United States with 84.365 points.

Hashimoto's goal is to become Japan's fifth men's world champion and the first since Mitsuhei Uchimura won the last of his six consecutive championships in 2015.

Hashimoto did a good job on the horizontal bar, but he took a step to the left when landing, which might cost him the gold medal.

"[Zhang] is great tonight," Hashimoto said. "There is no doubt that he is the number one in the world. I know I have to perform well on the horizontal bar, which is difficult to do."

Zhang scored the highest on floor exercises, vaults and parallel bars, and ranked second on rings and horizontal bars. This is Hashimoto's only leading equipment. Both Hashimoto and Zhang were thrown down by a pommel horse.

The 19-year-old Hashimoto became the youngest Olympic all-around champion in the history of the Tokyo Olympics.

The defending Russian champion Nikita Nagornyy did not travel to Japan to participate in the World Championship.

On Saturday and Sunday, the World Championships will end in the individual event finals. There will be no team competitions in the World Championships held immediately after the Olympics.

Hashimoto will participate in floor exercises, pommel horses, parallel bars and horizontal bars this weekend. Zhang will participate in the finals of Jinghuan and Parallel Bars.