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Russia WAG win Universiade by ten points

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A mature and, mostly, happy Russian collective dominated the Universiade today in Kazan, taking the team title by ten points over their nearest rival, Japan, and leading qualification in each of the remaining competitions, including the top two places in Tuesday's all around (Mustafina and Afanasyeva).  It was a confident, assured and relaxed performance from this experienced team whose only real error was by Afanasyeva on uneven bars (12.55), and much more gold is promised in the coming days.

Russia's specialists had an opportunity to shine.  2010 World Team Champion Anna Dementyeva's beam routine was a real highlight, for me the best routine of the entire competition today and promising much for the fan favourite in Wednesday's event finals.  Dementyeva's beautiful line, execution and lightness of touch did justice to her country's heritage of excellence on this piece of apparatus.  Maria Paseka vaulted to promise and ended up in first place on her one event.  Otherwise, veteran Tatiana Nabiyeva gave a touching all around performance - her first for many years after a career interrupted by injury and growth - that saw her perform flawlessly across all four pieces, and do well enough to qualify to bars final alongside her closest gymnastics friend, Aliya Mustafina.

Mustafina - perhaps unsurprisingly, given the hasty circumstances of her integration into the team here and speculation that her health may not be at its best - looked rather strained at times, tired emotionally if not physically.  In addition to her first place finish in the all around qualification, she ended up in first for the bars final, and will be seen in event finals on beam and floor also.  A fairly good qualifying round for Russia's only gymnastics Olympic champion then, but Mustafina did not need to compete her full difficulty here and to me looked a little below her best at times, leaving some scope for improvement as she prepares for this autumn's World Championships.

In some ways, Afanasyeva looked the best prepared gymnast on the team despite her bars disaster, qualifying in first place on floor with her usual virtuosity (astonishing power in the two whips to triple twist, high double pike dismount), and going forward to represent her country in her most improved apparatus, vault.

The competition continues tomorrow with the MAG team final, with Russia competing in the final subdivision that begins at 6.20 pm local Kazan time.  See here for detailed schedule information and hints on possible live streaming.

Maladyets, Russia ... and good luck for the coming days!  We are with you!

Team results

All Around qualifying results

Vault qualifying result

 Uneven bars qualifying results

Beam qualifying results

Floor qualifying results
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Comments

  1. Anonymous7 July 2013 at 19:36

    I was very happy that Russia won. Their win was expected and very well deserved.

    I was impressed by Anna. Her beam was amazing. I loved the Mostepanova-Aerial-Sheep Jump combination. Her toe point, extension, and lines are exquisite as well.

    It was very nice to see Tatiana Nabieva compete again. She is very lovely to watch on bars. She has nice swing and a great pak salto. I wish she did the Nabieva release again though.

    It is very good that Maria qualified first into vault finals. I wish FISU had shown her vaults because her DTY is lovely and much more pleasing than her Amanar.

    Aliya was impressive for being sick recently. However, she did look very exhausted in her floor routine. Her dance wasn't as sharp and her tumbles weren't as powerful. Her twisting form seemed even less tidy than before. Aliya's vaulting form isn't at it's best, but she still gets good height, distance, and landings. I was hoping her bars would be at full difficulty, but they were still worth 6.3. They were fluid and nice. Her beam score is very impressive. She scored 15.2! I really want to see it and hope someone posts it on YouTube! The FISU coverage showed the crowd instead of the beam routine. -_-

    Ksenia was very good. FISU didn't show her bars, but seeing her score showed that it was a disaster. Her DTY definitely shows her potential for an Amanar. It had good form, good height, and she landed very upright. She seemed to have extra power, seeing from the big step. I hope to see her Afanar in event finals or the AA. Her floor was good besides the mistake on the layout. However, the choreography wasn't that good. It was mostly arm flicks. Her past routines were much better. They were unique, but her new floor is not.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Anonymous7 July 2013 at 21:58

    Hi Elizabeth! You should check this interview out. Valentina says Viktoria Komova has regained everything, but vault and says that she has many suprises for Worlds. http://www.allsportinfo.ru/index.php?id=72906

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous15 July 2013 at 22:51

      That's wonderful news! I am pulling for Vika to win the AA at worlds.

      Delete
  3. Queen Elizabeth8 July 2013 at 10:54

    Thank you Kaley!!

    ReplyDelete
  4. mustafinauniverse8 July 2013 at 23:51

    there is an hd video i found of session 4 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f4u11HBSub0

    ReplyDelete

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