Russian diva Kudryavtseva wins again at rhythmic gymnastics worlds

Russian Yana Kudryavtseva was crowned again at the Rhythmic Gymnastics World Championships here on Thursday evening.

The two-time world all-around champion pocketed another three gold medals during the second night of individual apparatus finals at the World Championships, winning individual titles with the clubs and ribbon, as well as gold with the Russian team.

The 17-year-old Muscovite, who successfully defended her world title with the ball Tuesday night, has been unstoppable in Stuttgart so far, in spite of a slight leg injury that kept her out of the hoop competition and consequently from attempting a clean sweep of world gold medals.

With the clubs, Kudryavtseva scored 19.066 points to take her third consecutive world title with the apparatus and even when she failed to catch the ribbon's wand on a throw, her score, 18.866, was still enough to edge her teammate and best friend Margarita Mamun, the defending world champion with the ribbon.

Rising star Aleksandra Soldatova of Russia, the silver medalist with the hoop, took a distant silver medal (18.583) behind Kudryavtseva.

Ukraine's Ganna Rizatdinova won bronze with both the clubs (18.566) and ribbon (18.383), just as she did Tuesday with the hoop, giving the 22-year-old three individual bronze medals so far in Stuttgart.

The 2015 Rhythmic Gymnastics World Championships continues with the individual all-around final Friday night, which will also determine which countries and regions will have the first 15 berths to the 2016 Olympic Games. Endi