Until Belu returns to the gym room, the team will be guided by his assistant Mariana Bitang.
His return marks the end of a troubled period for Romanian gymnastics, which was rocked by scandals and legal problems.
Belu coached Romania from 1981, helping it to 272 medals - including 104 golds - at Olympic, world, European and other top competitions.

Olympic all around bronze medalist Zhang Nan of China tops the field of outstanding gymnasts from nine countries. She will be joined by China junior national champion Han Bing who also recently won the Asian junior games.

World Cup gold medalist and Olympian Suzanne Harmes along with Loes Linders and Verona van de Leur will be the Dutch's representatives.
Britnee Habbib of Canada- a frequent gymnast on the Europeabn scene- is making her second trip to the Friendship Classic. Among her coaches is 1980 Olympic all around champion Elena Davydova.
Additional countries taking part include Russia, Ukraine, South Africa, Hungary, Lithuania and Columbia.

Earlier this year, the Romanian coaches Octavian Belu and Maria Bitang resigned after 2002 world silver medallist Oana Petrovschi said they asked for payment from her prize-money and forced her to compete despite an injured back. She is suing for over $50,000 in damages.
Belu admitted receiving money from his athletes but said it wasgiven freely as a sign of gratitude and that he never demanded it.
The gymnasts say they want Belu back at the helm but so far he has refused to go back on his resignation.
The European and world championships will be held in June and November respectively.

All Results and reports on www.turnier-der-meister.de

NKL, North Swiss Art- and Gymnastic centre Liestal
A HAPPY ENDING
The gymnasts get a second training hall
- by Ueli Waldner

From now until Sunday more events will take place in Liestal (near Basel/Switserland) at the opening of the new sport and health centre Rosen. The emphasis will be on the new training hall for artistic gymnasts.

This is yet another clear example of the increasing importance of Swiss male gymnastics, which has started about fifteen years ago and which resulted for gymnastics to become one of the more important sport disciplines in Switzerland.

For years, there has been problem of space in the hall, where also the women gymnasts were training.
Since three years, the German former Olympic champion on floor (1980, Moscow) Roland Brückner from Berlin is the trainer of the women. In spite of big efforts, the planned renovation was postponed al the time…

From horse to vaulting table
Within a year, the situation changed positively. A horse riding arena complete with gathering rooms and a residence in Liestal that hadn’t been used for a long time could be purchased.
A horse riding arena with the dimensions 33,5 x 16 metres has now been transformed into a gymnastic training hall. The stables on the ground floor have been transformed into wardrobes, toilets and showers for men, a massage room and an office for the trainer.
The upper floor now consists of a large ballet area and has also got wardrobes, toilets and showers for women. The residence has not been rebuilt.

It started only early August 2004 when everything that remembered of horses was cleared with volunteer work. The biggest job was dismantling the stables and clearing most of the inner walls. Another major job were a lot of sweat was poured, was the dismantling of the cover walls in the riding hall. A total of 40.000 kg debris was disposed of, requiring 30 truck trips. Also during the actual rebuilding phase the volunteers of the NKL gym club put in a lot of work. A total of 1.300 hours of volunteer capacity have been used the help the club reach its aim of a new gym hall.

The work has been done into detail. Everything has been installed, the most modern equipment of the supplier of the artistic gymnastics event at the Olympics,-JANSSEN-FRITSEN from the Netherlands- has been installed and the floor and mats have been moved.
This hall is an example where with the right people on the right place, with expertise and commitment it ‘gets down to business’!

The opening and a open house will be on the 13th of March, the day when the new training hall Rosen and the other accompanying areas will be officially opened.
From this day on, the problem of space belongs to the past; the man will move to the new hall Rosen, the women will stay in the hall Schauenburg, that has been refurnished with only women equipment.
This hall with its modern conditions, where a new generation of creative and high performance gymnasts will be born, will be noticed world wide.
Report / Pictures: Ueli Waldner, NKL / gymmedia
Translated by Patricia Opheij

Some of Drigg's most important results include his titles in the horse vault at the 1999 World University Games in Palma de Mallorca, Spain, and during the 2003 World Championships....

Also in 2003, Abel DRIGG was Pan American silver medalist in the same event at the Santo Domingo regional games, where he was only behind López.
In the meantime, three other members of the Cuban national men's gymnastics team - Carlos Campagná, Irving ArroyoJorge Luis García - are in Sao Paulo, Brazil, where they will stay until April conducting a training camp under the guidance of their head coach Félix Aguilera.