Rewriting Russian Gymnastics

All Russian gymnasts who received neutral status intend to promptly fly to Novosibirsk after the end of the World Cup stage in Qatar to take part in the Russian Cup. This was reported to TASS by the senior coach of the Russian national team Valentina Rodionenko. In addition to Melnikova, the list of Russian participants in the April stages of the World Cup in artistic gymnastics includes Kirill Prokopyev, Vladislav Polyashov, Ilya Zaika, Grigory Klimentyev, Alena Glotova and Zlata Osokina. 💬"All our athletes plan to compete in the Russian Cup in Novosibirsk after participating in the World Cup stages," Rodionenko said. "The World Cup stage in Qatar will end on April 19, the official training in Novosibirsk is scheduled for April 22. When we declared gymnasts for the World Cup stages, the athletes all said that the Russian Cup was a priority start for them. And they are doing the right thing, because a lot will depend on the performance in Novosibirsk." 📝tass.ru/sp...

WAG results - team event - Russia Cup.  Moscow, Central, St Petersburg. Individual qualis - AA - Spiridonova 57.3,  Sosnitskaya 56.367 Kharenkova 55.967, Tutkhalyan 55.766 Shelgunova 54.999 V - Paseka,, Tutkhalyan, Nabiyeva, Afanasyeva UB - Spiridinova, Paseka, Sosnitskaya B - Shelgunova, Afanasyeva,  Sosnitskaya,  Spiridonova F - Afanasyeva,  Akhaimova, Kharenkova, Paseka Both Tutkhalyan and Kharenkova had many errors and would have done much better on a better day.  Melnikova and Skrypnik competed hors de competition - their scores are not shown here but their performances and scores were generally very competitive with this field. MAG results - see  http://www.the-all-around.com/2015/09/16/ignatiev-leads-qualifying-at-russian-cup/

This September's Russia Cup, one of the qualifying events for the World Championships, will take place at the Burtasy School of Gymnastics in Penza.  This is a late change from the planned location of Ekaterinburg. Valentina Rodionenko reports that, following a visit by inspectors, the facilities at Ekaterinburg just aren't good enough for such a major competition - there is no warm up gym, and the equipment is not state of the art. In Penza, the gym has benefitted from a gift of brand new equipment from the Ministry of Sport in recognition of the achievements of World and Olympic Champion Denis Ablyazin, who trains with coach Sergei Starkin in Penza. The School has become almost a permanent fixture for national championships recently and has developed as a power base for Russian gymnastics in general.  Head coach Valeri Starkin, father of the better known Sergei Starkin, was recently elevated to a position as national coach.  This change took place almost simultaneously ...