Great Britain's men's gymnastics team had a disappointing day at the World Championships in Tokyo when they finished outside the top eight.
Great Britain fail to shine at World Championships
Great Britain's men's gymnastics team had a disappointing day at the World Championships in Tokyo when they finished outside the top eight.
Poor performances on the high bar, including two falls, proved costly for the team who missed their first chance to qualify for next year's Olympics.
After finishing down in 10th they must now try to qualify in an Olympic test event at the Greenwich Dome in London next year.
Louis Smith progressed to the pommel horse final but cannot qualify for next year's Olympics even if he wins a medal after failing to fulfil new rules introduced by world governing body, the FIG.
The rules state an individual gymnast can only qualify if his team fails to do so if he has competed on three pieces of apparatus - to within 85% of the average qualifying score - and then goes on to win a medal.
Smith only competed on the pommel horse and therefore failed to meet the criteria, unlike team-mate Daniel Purvis who reached the all-round final and will qualify for the Olympics if he finishes on the podium.
British Gymnastics Olympic performance director Tim Jones said: "This was a very disappointing day for our men's team.
"We have made some significant progress in the last few years, to the point where we had some realistic hopes for this competition.
"As a team aiming to establish itself in the top eight in the world we knew we would face a serious challenge in achieving our goal, and we certainly weren't complacent.
"After a solid start on the first three pieces of apparatus, we did not expect to make so many mistakes on high bar, which ended up so seriously undermining our challenge.
"However, we know that our gymnasts were not outclassed, and they are a talented group who will rise to the challenge of qualifying for the London Olympic Games at the second qualification opportunity in January."
