Chinese veteran Yang Wei won his first individual championship ever in the men's all-around yesterday since his debut in the 1999 world championships.

China extended their dominance to the individual events after sweeping both the team's titles with Yang Wei finishing first with 94.400 points.

Hiroyuki Tomita from Japan took the silver with 93.175 and German teenager Fabian Hambuechen was third to win his first world medal with 92.975.

Yang, a member of the 2000 Olympic champion team, seemed doomed to the runner-up spot until now, finishing second at both the 2000 Sydney Olympics and the 2003 Anaheim worlds.

"I have been waiting for this world champion for a long time. The experience from the past years weighs more than the gold I won today," said Yang.

"I didn't worry about whether I would win or not before the event started. If I win here, it's a new start for me on the road to the Beijing Olympic Games and if I don't, I will still fully prepare myself for the Games. So the result is the same for me in my next plan.

"But actually I got something from the title; that is, I recovered my confidence here. I even planned to retire after my setback in the Athens Olympics, but my coach told me to hold on for the Beijing Olympics, which is a one-time-for-life. So I just remained in the national team to train and put my eyes to a long destination, the Beijing Olympics.

"I think I was much influenced by the young gymnasts, for I am the only experienced athlete here after Huang Xu was ruled out of the championships. I stayed with the young and I felt I was young too just like a debutant here, which surely helped me relax and don't bother to think too much."

Defending champion Hiroyuki Tomita was saddened by his second loss to Yang following the team's final. "I did what I could, but Yang just performed better than me. Yang is worthy of the title," said Tomita.

Meanwhile, 19-year-old German wunderkind Fabien Hambuechen seemed very contented with the bronze. "This was the best competition I ever did. It was my first big medal in all-round, and I hope that will continue," said Hambuechen.

"It has been the best day of my life. I don't know what will happen in the future, but I will mainly focused on the next year's Stuttgart championships for a spot in the Beijing Olympic Games. I don't know whether I will win anything in Beijing; what I need to do is to try to qualify and get everything ready before the Olympics come," Hambuechen said.

Chen Yibing, a member of China's world champion team, was fourth with 92.625 points. Ranking 5th to 8th were Maxim Deviatovski of Russia, 92.550; Takuya Nakase of Japan, 91.650; Yang Tae-young of South Korea, 90.700 and Dorin Razvan Selariu of Romania, 90.600.

(Xinhua News Agency October 20, 2006)