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Rodionenko : Mustafina is in optimal form, but not at her maximum

The Russian Gymnastics Federation has a translation of a short Allsport interview with national team coach Andrei Rodionenko, all about Russian Championships so far, the condition of Mustafina and other team members :

The Russian Senior and Junior Championships in Artistic Gymnastics are under way in Penza. 2010 World All-Around Champion Aliya Mustafina became the 2012 Russia All-Around Champion with a score of 59.533 across the discipline's four events (vault, uneven bars, balance beam and floor exercise). Kseniya Afanasyeva won the silver medal (58.387) and Anastasia Grishina won the bronze (57.699).

Combined men's and women's national gymnastics teams Andrey Rodionenko shared comments on the results with AllSport.

"All the main results are on the score board", Rodionenko said smiling, "Mustafina is first, Afanasyeva is second and Grishina is third. It's all very clear and easy to understand."

— Has Aliya Mustafina completely recovered from her injury?

Well, to a certain extent. Not completely, but significantly. Aliya has made a very big and very positive step forwards. But she is still not doing the routines she used to win in at the 2010 world championships. You could say that Mustafina is in optimal form, but not at her maximum.

— What about the other girls?

The same for them. The gymnasts are in the shape they should be in according to plan and in terms of routines and in terms of readiness.

— Why didn't 2011 World Champion Viktoria Komova compete here?

Viktoria has an individual plan. We did not envision her competing at this competition. She is recovering and treating all her little pains and so she will begin competing a bit later. Komova's main meet will be the Russian Cup in June. All our athletes have individual training plans; that is the only way we can prepare a competitive, fighting team.

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