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Russian team predictions from Valentina

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Ksenia Afanasyeva in podium training yesterday


Reserves are confirmed at this stage as Dmitri Lankin and Evgeniya Shelgunova.

Competing AA will be - WAG - Daria Spiridonova and Seda Tutkhalyan; MAG - Nikita Ignatyev, David Belyavski and Nikolai Kuksenkov

It will be tough for the men's team as the top six are extremely competitive.  To be realistic, the men are not likely to finish in the top three.  The American men are very strong, also the Chinese and Japanese, other teams - she mentions Brazil.

The women can compete for one of the top places.  Of course the Americans are out of reach but they are on the same level as the Chinese and Romanians so there is a chance.  But they will have to be clean.

On the AA, it's another picture; the gymnasts can compete for a medal.  For the men, David Belyavski and Nikita Ignatyev.  It will be harder for the women as both Daria and Seda do not yet have extensive international senior experience.

It is expected that Viktoria Komova will compete in three apparatus (vault, bars, beam).  Ksenia Afanasyeva has the ability to perform at the level of a medal in floor, and Maria Paseka on vault.  The odds on Seda Tutkhalyan AA are longer, but she does have one apparatus - beam - where if she performs without error, she has a difficult routine and may be in the battle for a medal.

David Belyavski has a good routine on p bars, and Denis Ablyazin on floor, rings and vault.  They expect a good competition and a medal from Nikita Ignatyev - perhaps on high bar or on p bars.  

This is really only a preliminary assessment of the team's readiness - there are still a few days left to polish the routines.

source : http://www.allsportinfo.ru/index.php?id=98577

I think Valentina's ideas are pretty much what I would say - nothing unexpected.  Good luck to all the gymnasts!  We are looking forward to supporting you!
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Comments

  1. Anonymous23 October 2015 at 15:32

    What happened to Kharenkova as an AA gymnast?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Queen Elizabeth23 October 2015 at 20:48

      1. She is fragile psychologically
      2. She has only a FTY, not good enough for Russia in terms of their need to qualify for Rio as a team.
      3. She wouldn't medal AA anyway.

      Delete

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