Skip to main content

Russia announces teams for Universiade

Tatiana Nabieva will compete on vault and bars

Russian teams for the Universiade (gymnastics competitions take place 7th to 10th July) have been announced. Team format is 5-4-3 :

MAG : David Belyavski, Nikolai Kuksenkov, Denis Ablyazin, Emin Garibov, Mattei Petrov. Substitute - Nikita Ignatiev.

Women: Aliya Mustafina, Ksenia Afanasyeva, Tatiana Nabieva, Anna Dementieva, Maria Paseka

Kuksenkov has only just gained eligibility to compete for Russia and this will be his first international appearance for his new team.


Mustafina and Afanasyeva will compete all around. Nabieva has recovered from her injury and regained form and will be able to contribute on bars and vault, although she does not at present have a second vault.  If they want to win a medal on vault, they will have to take Maria Paseka. 

There is an interview with Valentina Rodionenko about the selection here.  It is clear that there is still some final decision making left to do before the teams travel to Kazan.

With thanks to Lifje for providing the information and link.

Comments

  1. I wonder whose decision it was for Aliya to compete all four events...Hers, coaches, Rodionenkos...After seeing her clearly not 100% at Euros, I wonder if this is the best move. I feel like she barely had a chance to comeback fully after her last injury, and now they are back to working her into the ground...Fingers crossed she has an injury free rest of her career!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. In all interviews, I've seen, Aliya showed here great interest in competing in Kazan.

      Delete
    2. Yea I don't doubt that. It is the biggest competition for Russia, I know id wanna compete no matter what. But is it the best decision for her? I mean who knows, she could be fully recovered from euros...hopefully!

      Delete
  2. Rodionenko still insists, that Xenia will show her Amanar in Kazan. That should be very interesting.

    ReplyDelete
  3. Excited to see Anna Dementyeva on the roster

    ReplyDelete

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Russian gymnasts to apply for neutral status

Gymnastics has lost some of its appeal over the past few years, whilst Russian athletes have been out of competition.  This might be an unpopular opinion, but it reflects the reality of international gymnastics without around a quarter of its leading protagonists.  The international competitive field has not raised its performance in the absence of Russia's leadership; gymnasts from the top ten or fifteen have floated upwards in the ranks to fill gaps in the medal placements, and we see mediocre performances gaining gold, silver and bronze medals.  Gymnastics has lost some of its imagination and vision without Russian athletes. This doesn't detract from the efforts of the world's best gymnasts.  Gymnastics quite simply needs the special abilities of Russian athletes to provide competition for our international contenders and drive the sport to ever greater things.  In particular, artistry has been almost entirely lost without Russian athletes to provide a good e...

Svetlana Boginskaya: I was always a bitch* in gymnastics

Svetlana Boginskaya, 15 years old, with her medals from the Seoul Olympics Nico translates the latest interview with gymnastics legend Svetlana Boginskaya, during a recent visit to her home country of Belarus. Svetlana Boginskaya: I was always a bitch* in gymnastics, so now I ask for forgiveness from everyone who came in contact with me. The National Olympic Committee of Belarus held a press conference with three-time Olympic Champion in artistic gymnastics, Svetlana Boginskaya. The meeting was devoted to the 25th anniversary of the Olympic Games in Seoul. In South Korea the Belarussian won two gold medals in the team competition and vault. As a gift to the Olympic Hall of fame, the famous gymnast, now living in the United States, donated one of her trophies that she won at the 1990 European Championships and a pennant for Best Female Athlete of the USSR in 1989. How happy we were when we could share with such stars as Boginskaya, Scherbo, and Ivankov,...

UPDATE 23/9 - Russian WAG team for Nanning confirmed

Daria Spiridonova will compete at her first World Championships this autumn.  Picture : RGF Natalia Kalugina has confirmed the Russian team for Nanning : Aliya Mustafina, Maria Kharenkova, Tatiana Nabieva,Ekaterina Kramarenko, Alla Sosnitskaya, Daria Spiridonova.  Reserve : Polina Fyodorova Here is a paraphrased translation of a comment by Natalia Kalugina on her Facebook page : 'Aliya has confidence in competition and she is, kind of, a coach to this team.  In Europe she succeeded in this role and she has told the coaches that she even liked it. The main fighting force will be Kharenkova, Sosnitskaya and Spiridonova.  Accordingly, the strongest apparatus will be beam (Marina Bulashenko With God!).  The Chinese women, of course, have been known to win that apparatus, but if one falls, they all fall.   Alla Sosnitskaya could compete in the vault final, and - in theory - on the floor. On bars, of course, Russia will probably lose to the Chinese women, but the...

RRG Archive - scroll by date, from 2024 to 2010

Show more