CHINA’S dominance in the men’s gymnastics team event since 2003 came to a shocking end as the side finished a distant third place at the World Gymnastics Championships on Wednesday.

    Japan, the silver medalist in the last four worlds, won its first title in 37 years after surviving a last-moment scare in the horizontal bar, where both Yusuke Tanaka and five-time world all-around champion Kohei Uchimura fell off the apparatus.

    China, which has won six straight titles since 2003, registered its worst performance in 12 years with 269.959 points.

    Japan collected a total of 270.818 points for the title. Britain shocked the field by winning the silver with 270.345 points, its first world championships medal in history.

    Yet it was China’s slide that reset the narrative with a suddenly wide-open Rio Olympics looming next summer.

    “It’s a warning for all of us,” China’s Zhang Chenglong said. “Because it’s a competition, there are always successes and failures. No one can be the forever winner.”

    The Chinese have spent a decade ruling the sport, a streak that included a pair of Olympic gold medals and five straight world championships, the last on a curious victory over Japan last year when the Chinese pulled it out on the final set of the final rotation.

    In 30 minutes, China’s supremacy crumbled.

    Japan led off with Uchimura on floor, almost as if to send a message that it wasn’t going to let another opportunity slip away. His 15.8 gave Japan early momentum and Kenzo Shirai and his seemingly endless stream of twisting tumbling runs posted a 16.235.(SD-Agencies)