Rewriting Russian Gymnastics

Leading Russian gymnast since 2007, Ksenia Afanasyeva has retired from gymnastics for medical reasons, reports Alexei Fililov from R Sport.   Valentina Rodionenko explained that Ksenia has a serious kidney illness. She is in hospital and will take not just days but weeks to recover. Afanasyeva is not just a brilliant gymnast but also a kind, humourous and intelligent team captain.  Her presence will be missed by both spectators and fellow competitors in Rio. Ksenia's place on the Russian team travelling to Rio on Sunday will be taken by the experienced and well prepared Evgenia Shelgunova. RRG would like to wish Ksenia a full recovery.  Get well soon, Ksenia and we will look forward to hearing about your next steps in your new life. http://m.rsport.ru/artist_gym/20160721/993115276.html

Belyavski and Ignatyev shared the AA gold :-) Here are the results available to date for the Batumi International.  As mentioned some time ago, Aliya Mustafina is not scheduled to compete in this event, and there is no live streaming.  Let's hope for video coverage. This is only the first stage of selection for Worlds.  Russia Cup, in just over three weeks, will help the coaches make up their minds about who is in the training squads.  After that, the decision will depend on who performs well in training and in final control competitions at Round Lake.  I expect there will be more results to come from this particular competition.   If I am reading the situation accurately - and it is very early days - there could be some surprise selections to Worlds.   15 year old Angelina Melnikova won the junior all around competition.  I understand from Ksenia Semenova on VK.com that Seda Tutkhalyan fell on floor, but she recorded a score of 15.6 on beam. ...

Evgenia, a member of the senior national team since 2013, turns 17 today, and posted this lovely picture of herself on Instagram. It hasn't been an easy journey for Zhenya ... Injury has dogged her early years as a senior, and she is currently in recovery, hoping to return to training in the autumn at the earliest. Let's give this young and determined gymnast some support and encouragement ... Russia needs her as part of a deep team in preparation for the Rio Olympics.  Good luck, Zhenya!  Have a very happy birthday!  And we wish you all the best as you work towards your chosen future!

Evgeniya Shelgunova, second placed in tonight's Junior Europeans All Around competition.  Picture courtesy of the RGF. A good competition today, with our two Russians performing well to expectation.  Shelgunova was extremely happy to land her full twisting Yurchenko after Wednesday's disappointment (two crashed vaults left her out of the running in theoretically one of her best events) and went on to complete her bars efficiently (a couple of form breaks but a good double layout dismount).  She also delivered strong routines on beam and floor where she looked very solid on both days.  Italy's Enus Mariani competed to her predicted form and took gold, just over a point ahead of Shelgunova and third placed Romanian Andreea Munteanu. I shall reserve a small gasp of delight for the second placed Russian on the team : Maria Kharenkova really performed tonight and finished in sixth place; is it academic that she missed 5th by only .067 of a mark?  What is less...

Maria Bondareva at last December's Voronin Cup Junior national team member Maria Bondareva confirmed her class yesterday with a convincing win all around at Canada's Gymnix Junior Cup. Bondareva, 12 years old, won bars and beam in the junior competition at last December's Voronin Cup, and took the all around junior title at Hungary's Eva Kanyo Cup. With 14 year old Evgeniya Shelgunova , Bondareva is leading the current charge of Russian juniors. She has been selected for the Jesolo Cup later this month, and (assuming she is age eligible) looks likely to be on the roster for the upcoming Junior Europeans in Brussels. Bondareva competed alongside Russian junior national team mates Anastasia Dmitrieva, Evgenia Korolkova and Daria Mikhailova.   Full results are available here .  Event finals take place today Maria Anatolyevna Bondareva , born 28th November 1999 (12 years old). Trains under U V Pursheva and Y N Bachurin at Fryazino (Moscow Oblast).   ...