By Emily Goddard

Ganna Rizatdinova has won the 2013 rhythmic gymnastics world title on hoopAugust 28 - Ganna Rizatdinova of Ukraine and Russia's Margarita Mamun got the 32nd Rhythmic Gymnastics World Championships underway today by winning the first gold medals of the showpiece event in Kyiv.

Fresh from winning gold in the hoop discipline at the 2013 World Games in Cali, 20-year-old Rizatdinova repeated the same feat on home turf to win her nation's first rhythmic gymnastics world title since Anna Bessonova's all-around gold medal in 2007 with 18.266 points.

Russia's Yana Kudryavtseva and Mamun followed in second and third place with 18.250 and 18.233 points respectively.

The ball competition saw the tables turn for 17-year-old Mamun, who last month won four gold medals - including all-around - on home soil at the Kazan Universiade, as she producing the routine with the highest difficult score of the day, 9.350, to take the world title with 18.516 points.

Yana Kudryavtseva, Margarita Mamun and Melitina Staniouta wave to the crowd on the ball podium of the 2013 Rhythmic Gymnastics World ChampionshipsYana Kudryavtseva, Margarita Mamun and Melitina Staniouta wave to the crowd on the ball podium of the 2013 Rhythmic Gymnastics World Championships


The discipline's European champion Kudryavtseva had to settle for the silver medal again with 18.350 points, while three-time World Championship silver medallist Melitina Staniouta of Belarus won bronze with a score of 18.166.

Today's results leave Mamun at the top of the all-around rankings with 36.633 points, ahead of Kudryavtseva with 36.582 and Rizatdinova with 36.250.

Competition continues tomorrow with finals in clubs and ribbon, followed by the all-around final on Friday (August 30).

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