Bross and Porgras upstage their illustrious rivals

By Pritha Sarkar

LONDON (Reuters) - Unheralded Rebecca Bross, Ana Porgras and Lauren Mitchell looked every inch like seasoned campaigners as they kept their poise to top qualifying at the gymnastics world championships on Wednesday.

The competition had been expected to be a three-way battle between China's Yang Yilin, European champion Ksenia Semenova of Russia and American Bridget Sloan but while they suffered some spectacular falls, a trio of unfamiliar names floated through their routines on the four apparatus.

Bross scored 57.400 points and fans could only watch in awe as fellow debutant and 15-year-old Porgras from Romania stuck all her landings to trail the American by just 0.1 of a point.

"Look at her," Romanian coach Nicolae Forminte said pointing at his young charge. "You can see she's special. She has a lot of talent so she can control everything around her.

"I have big expectations for her. Not now. The most important is the Olympic Games, that is my big target."

Australia's Mitchell finished on 56.675 while Sloan trailed in fifth. Yang was eighth and Semenova 10th.

Unfortunately for the three leaders, and luckily for their rivals, there are no prizes for topping qualifying and everyone will start from scratch on Friday in the all-around final.

Forminte, however, was not worried about Porgras's chances.