Rewriting Russian Gymnastics

Anna Pavlova, who last competed for her home country of Russia at the 2008 Beijing Olympics, and has maintained a solid presence on the domestic circuit since, today announced that she will prepare to compete for the Azerbaijan national team at the 2015 European championships, which will take place in the Azerbaijan capital city of Baku.  Her mother, who is Anna's personal coach, will take up a position as Azerbaijan's national coach.  Working alongside Anna will be 2011 World Championships team member, 2012 Olympic reserve Yulia Inshina from Voronezh.  On the men's side, rings specialist Konstantin Pluzhnikov will also make the move to the Azerbaijan team.  All the gymnasts will be working at home in Russia, as there is no equipment available in Azerbaijan.  Pluzhnikov is considered a world medal contender on his specialist piece, the rings, and Pavlova has regularly beaten national team members on vault, beam and floor in Russian domestic competitions. ...

Sergei Khorokhodin, David Belyavski and Alexander Balandin receive their awards on the parallel bars.  By kind permission of the RGF The Russian Championships 2012 closed on Saturday as Denis Ablyazin confirmed his status as the outstanding individual apparatus gymnast of the competition with his second gold, this time on vault.  David Belyavski, who according to an interview in IG  is struggling at present with a neck injury, asserted his class with gold on parallel bars.  Konstantin Pluzhnikov, took the gold on his specialist piece, rings. In the immediate aftermath of the competition Andrei Rodionenko confirmed the twelve strong membership of the training squad who will continue to the Europeans and beyond to the Olympics.  The names of the gymnasts are : Emin Garibov Nikita Ignatyev Sergey Khorokhordin Andrei Cherkasov Igor Pakhomenko Denis Ablyazin Maxim Devyatovsky David Belyavsky Alexander Balandin Konstantin Pluzhnikov Anton Golotsutskov...