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Afanasyeva out of Europeans/Russia Today news video

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Ksenia Afanasyeva is officially now out of the running for the European Championships thanks to a nasty case of tonsilitis, reports national team coach Alexander Alexandrov via Sports.ru The three core gymnasts now progressing towards places on the team are Anastasia Grishina, Viktoria Komova and Aliya Mustafina, with the final two spots open for a decision over the coming week. 

My guess is that Anastasia Sidorova, Maria Paseka and Anna Dementyeva are in the running for the two spots, with the two younger gymnasts probably being favoured to give them experience.  Dementyeva looked a little tired in Switzerland and was limping quite heavily after almost every exercise. 

The Europeans are the final big step on the way to the Olympics for the Russians and I don't expect they will show everything of which they are capable.  Russia Today has released the following news video shot at the recent press tour of Lake Krugloye.  It includes brief interviews with Alexandrov and Mustafina, and national coach Andrei Rodionenko also speaks at the press conference.


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