By Sportswriter Zhang Rongfeng

    AARHUS, Denmark, Oct. 15 (Xinhua) -- Chinese gymnasts dominated the men's qualifiers to book the first place ahead of Japan, while the Athens Olympic silver medallists U.S. fell out of the finals to settle with the eleventh at Aarhus gymnastic worlds in Denmark on Sunday.

    When the agonizing qualification round was over, the members of the U.S. men's team put their arms around each other and came together in a close-knit huddle to share words of encouragement.

    "We gave everything we had out there today," American rings specialist Kevin Tan said Saturday, after a qualifying round at world championships his team would love to forget. "We're not happy it happened this way. But we keep fighting."

    The second sub-division highlighted the qualifiers featuring two powerhouses China and Japan. China took in 370.450 points to lead Japan (367.75) in the top of team ranking as all pundits expected the two teams are too overwhelming for others after witnessing the podium training. Russia (365.4) was next. The United States (358.1) was squeezed out the top eight teams and could only watch the finals on Tuesday.

    "But we're far from finished," team coordinator Ron Brant said ."We're all preparing for 2008, the Beijing Olympics."

    Chinese gymnasts and coach all put on smile on their faces and waved to the cheering crowd when they left the ARGi Arena with all their targets pocketing up out of qualifiers. The head of Chinese delegation watched the qualifying round on a spectator's seat and sent out the news of first-stage victory through text message on mobile phone.