Favourites China set pace

Judges were seen to deliberate for up to 10 minutes each time they tried to agree on a score for Li Xiaopeng, Huang Xu and all-round favourite Yang Wei on the rings.

Their lengthy discussions led the packed crowd to start slow-clapping at the National Indoor Stadium.

But with memories of a 2004 Athens Games judging scandal lingering, they ignored the fans' reaction before finally settling on scores of 14.800, 15.300 and 16.225 respectively under the new open-ended scoring system that is making its Olympic debut.

The 10.00 scoring system was abolished after a series of disputed medals overshadowed the gymnastics competition in Athens four years ago.

An accumulative points scoring system - awarded for difficulty of content and execution - is now being used.

"When we're on the competition ground, the best thing to do is just to live up to our own standards, we can't pay attention to judging issues," said Yang.

The Chinese men, who are undefeated on the world stage since failing to get a medal in the Greek capital four years ago, avoided the mishaps that have often ruined their Olympic dreams.

They led the field with 374.675, leading 2004 champions Japan by 5.125 points. Former powerhouse Russia were third with 366.225. South Korea, Germany, the United States, France and Romania completed the line-up for Tuesday's final.

Twice world all-round champion Yang proved that he would be the man to beat for the individual crown as he led the field with 93.875. Germany's Fabian Hambuechen was second with 92.425 and 2004 Olympic silver medallist Kim Dae-eun was third with 92.400.

Yang saluted the crowd with a clenched right fist and exchanged high-fives with his team mates after earning 16.225 on the rings. He also rotated effortlessly across the pommel horse to draw 15.425, qualifying for both apparatus finals. But he will not be able to add a parallel bars gold to his 2006 world title since he failed to make the eight-man final.

Japan admitted they were below par on Saturday and would have to improve if they were to have any chance of overhauling China.

"We knew to compete with China we cannot make any mistakes and today we made a few," Kohei Uchimura, who was the fourth best all-round qualifier, said. "We made some mistakes and we have to make sure we don't repeat them in final."

The Americans began their post-Hamm era by setting the early pace before being overtaken by the stronger contenders.

Twins Morgan and Paul Hamm, the 2004 all-round Olympic champion, had led the team at the last two Olympics but, after their withdrawals through injury, it was left to Jonathan Horton and late replacement Sasha Artemev to show the way.

European number one Hambuechen drew the most gasps for his spectacular high-flying routine on the horizontal bar. Predictably he finished top of the pile with 16.200.