Eye ace Smith performed well in the opening World Cup event of 2008 – the Qatar Grand Prix at the Aspire Stadium in Doha – in a field full of the best pommel horse exponents from across the globe.

Although Smith actually found himself being eclipsed by his Huntingdon Olympic clubmate Daniel Keatings in the final.

While Smith produced an extremely difficult exercise well to finish in sixth spot, Keatings performed one of his best routines to grab third place. The competition was won by Prashanth Sellathurai of Australia.

But more significantly both local aces achieved scores above the GB Olympic selection standard of 15.5 to make themselves eligible for Beijing.

Huntingdon head coach Paul Hall said: "These were a couple of fantastic results in a world class field.

"It proves that both Louis and Daniel are on track to challenge for an Olympic Final place which would be a first for any British gymnast."

Both Smith and Keatings enjoyed a successful return to these shores at the weekend when helping the Huntingdon Olympic senior men's team win the British Team Title for the third successive year.