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World medalist Daniel Purvis defended his title against a deep men's field Saturday at the 2012 British Gymnastics Championships in Liverpool.

Daniel Purvis (Southport YMCA)

Purvis scored 91.550 to take the all-around championship over Sam Oldham (90.700) and Daniel Keatings (90.050), both of whom came roaring back into the mix for this summer's Olympic Games in London. Both gymnasts had been left off the squad for the 2012 Europeans in Montpellier, where Great Britain won its first European team title. In Liverpool, Oldham had the top scores on vault (16.000) and high bar (15.600), while Keatings led parallel bars (15.550).

Kristian Thomas took fourth with the high mark on floor (15.850), and 2008 Olympic bronze medalist Louis Smith nailed pommel horse for 16.200. Ruslan Panteleymonov and Max Whitlock — the other members of the golden European squad — also hit their key events, making for a difficult selection ahead.

The competition also serves as the final trials for the Olympic squad, which will be announced July 4.

"It's brilliant to win the title again and with it being the final Olympic trial it's even more special," Purvis said. "I felt good out there today and my routines were all clean so it's really encouraging looking ahead to the team selection. The event was really close between a lot of the top lads and with three of us scoring over 90 it again proves the amazing talent we have in the squad. For me now it's all about waiting for that phone call and just hoping I'm confirmed for the team. My form over the year has been good so it's all looking really positive."

Oldham, the high bar gold medalist at the 2010 Youth Olympics, delivered on his best event at the right time. High bar is the weakest event for the British men, who are within reach of a team medal this summer.

"That was incredible - better than I could ever have hoped for," Oldham said. "To go clean on all pieces and take a medal is brilliant. I knew I just had to go for it today, it's the last chance to impress and I nailed it. It shows that hard work really pays off, all the time I've been training away trying to get back from injury I've had in the back of my mind that I've worked all my life for these Olympics and that's a big motivation. It's a massive relief to have gone out and performed today."

Keatings, who also returned from injury, was just as thrilled.

"I'm just so happy!" he said. "The past couple of months have been really tough for me battling through injury but I've tried to stay positive and this was always the focus. I knew today I had to smash it and prove to everyone that I'm still right up there with the best, my aim was to get over 90 points and I did that. There were times when I didn't think it would happen so to be back and produce clean routines under pressure feels great. I just hope I've done enough to get on the team but with the talent in the squad I know it's going to be a close call."

Competition continues Saturday evening with the senior women's all-around.

Click here to watch videos from on British Gymnastics' Official YouTube channel.

External Link: British Gymnastics

2012 British Championships
June 23, Liverpool

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