Fan favourite Sabina Cojocar returned to top level competition after a long break induced by injury. The 17-year-old Romanian topped qualifications and won the floor final at the 2002 Šiška International, held November 2-3 in Ljubljana, Slovenia. "The competition was nice. It was the first time I experienced a competition like this," she said, speaking after the first day of the tournament. Originally not registered to compete bars, the 2000 Junior European champion did well enough to place second on what is arguably her weakest event. "I was happy with how I performed on the first day. It was important to me to come and compete here since there isn't much time left before Debrecen," she explained. When her coach was asked what he expected of Cojocar at the upcoming Individual World Championships, his answer was as short as it was direct: "More."

His gymnast was equally frank about her physical condition. After spending the day in the company of a red tube of Mobilat, she told Gymworld after the competition: "Unfortunately I had some pain in my back today, but I hope it will be better at the World Championships and I hope I'll have a better competition there." Cojocar praised the unique atmosphere of the Slovenian tournament. "I really liked it, especially the balloons," she laughed, referring to the more than 1500 balloons hanging from the ceiling and spelling out the word Šiška along the wall. And Slovenia liked Cojocar. The cheerful and chatty Romanian was the number one target among the foreign gymnasts for auto- and photographs and was also runner-up in the annual 'Miss Šiška' journalists' vote, won by Austrian Tanja Gratt.

Immediately after the finals, Cojocar went on a shopping expedition with the Chinese delegation to the Park Center and was spotted casually strolling through various shops. The Chinese delegation got caught up in an Interspar supermarket, fascinated by all the unknown things offered there. So the rest of the shopping expedition had to wait with growing impatience in the white minivan. "Hmmm... no Chinese," Cojocar wondered while peering out the window before the two gymnasts, coach and judge turned up around the corner, laden with loads of different shopping bags. Apologetically, they distributed interesting looking Chinese sweets (attention Romanian coaches and colleagues from Gazeta Sporturilor: These sweets were low calorie and sugar free!) to all the members of the group. After a quizzical look around to make sure none of her co-shoppers seemed to have taken a turn for the worse after trying one, Cojocar happily munched away...

nora & nbb

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