June 29, 2009

BERKELEY - Current California sophomore Kyle Bunthuwong and former letterwinner and graduate intern Tim McNeill will travel to Japan with the United States delegation for the 2009 Japan Cup. The meet will feature gymnasts from the top countries in the 2008 Beijing Olympics. Both Bunthuwong and McNeill are current U.S. Senior National team members.

"We're thrilled for the guys," Cal head coach Barry Weiner said. "The U.S. is sending over its top team. This will be a great experience for Kyle and Tim."

The team all-around competition will take place on Saturday, July 18 ,and the individual all-around meet will be held Sunday, July 19. The Japan Cup is the first international meet in the Tokyo area since 1993 and is a FIG-approved event. The two-day event will take place at the Makuhari Events Hall in Makuhari Messe, Chiba.

McNeill and Bunthuwong will join Jonathan Horton, Steven Legendre, Danell Leyva and Sho Nakamori on the U.S. squad. Also competing will be Kohei Uchimura, the silver medalist in the all-around at the 2008 Olympics, for the Japanese team. Gold medalist YiBing Chen of China will also be participating.

At the 2009 NCAA Championships, Bunthuwong set two personal highs - 14.900 on horse and 14.900 on rings - and two 2009 bests - vault (15.750) and parallel bars (14.650). McNeill is the all-time most decorated California men's gymnast with five individual NCAA championship titles. As an undergraduate, McNeill was co-captain of the Bears for his senior (2008) and junior (2007) seasons and a seven-time All-American.