Rhythmic gymnast Son Yeon-jae completes gold medal sweep at Asian Championships

South Korean rhythmic gymnast Son Yeon-jae (C) poses with her teammates after completing a gold medal sweep at the eighth Rhythmic Gymnastics Asian Championships in Tashkent, Uzbekistan, on May 10, 2016, in this photo provided by her agency, IB World Wide. (Yonhap)

SEOUL (Yonhap) — South Korean Son Yeon-jae completed a gold medal sweep at the eighth Rhythmic Gymnastics Asian Championships in Uzbekistan on Tuesday, brightening hopes for her first Olympic medal this summer.

Son was crowned the champion in four apparatuses in Tashkent, a day after capturing her third consecutive individual all-around title.

She won the gold in ribbon with a new career-high 18.700 points. Sabina Ashirbayeva of Kazakhstan finished second with 18.300 points, followed by Elizaveta Nazarenkova of Uzbekistan with 18.000.

Earlier Tuesday, Son scored 18.600 points each in hoop and ball, and 18.550 points in clubs to also finish first.

In hoop, Ashirbayeva finished second to Son with 17.950 points, followed by Nazarenkova with 17.400 points.

In ball, Kaho Minagawa of Japan was the runner-up with 18.100 points, and Nazarenkova finished third with 17.950 points.

In clubs, Nazarenkova was the runner-up with 18.250 points and Ashirbayeva was third with 18.150 points.

Son is the first since Aliya Yussupova of Kazakhstan in 2009 to sweep five individual titles at the Asian Championships. Yussupova also accomplished the feat in 2006.

Son, 21, is trying to become the first South Korean rhythmic gymnast to win an Olympic medal in Rio de Janeiro in August. She ranked fifth in the individual all-around at the 2012 London Olympics.

“I am so happy to wrap up this year’s Asian Championships with five gold medals,” Son said through her Seoul-based agency, IB World Wide. “I will keep training hard for the Rio Olympics in August and will try to post good results there.”