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Nico translates ... Mustafina to skip Russian Nationals, Europeans


Via Sports Express, TASS has confirmed the following : 

TASS conducted a telephone interview with national team coach Valentina Rodionenko. 

A chronic back injury has prevented Mustafina from showing her best for a long time. At the end of 2014 the athlete started receiving treatments from a clinic in Germ
any. Now Mustafina is back training at Round Lake while continuing her follow-up treatments in Germany. 

Valentina Rodionenko: “Aliya last went to Germany at the end of January. So far the doctors are pleased with her recovery and pace. As long as Aliya follows their orders, then most likely they won’t need to do any more with her. Right now Aliya is training but not at full strength. This was the physicians’ orders. As such, Aliya will not compete at the Russian Championships in March or European Championships in April in France.”

TASS wants to note that the biggest competition of the season is the World Championships, which will be held in October in the UK. 

Valentina Rodionenko: “This competition is a qualifier to the Olympic Games. It’s very important for Aliya to be fully prepared. It’s not worth sacrificing her for the European Championships. We can’t let last year’s situation happen again.”

Last spring Mustafina had serious problems with her ankle and insisted on competing at the European Championships in Sofia, Bulgaria. Many of the country's top gymnasts missed the championships due to injuries, and Mustafina stepped in to help the team through a difficult period.

I think this is a positive sign that Aliya's health is taking priority.  I wish her all the best for a GOOD recovery and a happy year.

Thanks to Nico of The Liukin for the translation, and to Lifje at Gymfever for the alert.

In other news, I know you will all be happy to see that Anastasia Grishina competed in the Moscow Championships recently, finishing second with her team.  I am hoping that this means a return to active competition for Nastia, and wish her very good luck.  This is the source - 

So some nice, hopeful news for a chilly day!  Keep warm, and lots of positive thoughts for our team, please :-)




Comments

  1. In another report, Viktoria Komova is in full training at around Lake, but suffering a lot of pain. The clinic says this isn't harmful, and most of the time she is able to work through it. Afanasyeva is likely to compete at a Euros, on two pieces.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. it's from R SPORT report? if yes, then they also say that Mustafina not skip Euros, she only miss RN.

      Delete
    2. As mentioned in the post, this comes from a Sports Express/TASS interview. I have seen the R Sport report, and the two sources say different things, so we will just have to see what happens in the end.

      Delete
  2. I dont want to see musty again until qual in Rio

    ReplyDelete
  3. I'm very pleased that Aliya's going to take it easy in order to prep for Worlds. I think that's a smart move, although I will miss her this spring! I am *so* excited about Anastasia, I had no idea she was in training at all and her AA total is really respectable (55.134). Hopefully Viktoria will feel better soon and maybe get to Europeans!

    ReplyDelete
  4. Happy Mustafina is getting a break although I will definitely miss her in competition and it will be a long wait till worlds but, I'd rather see her in full strength and injury free any day. As for Komova, I am always saddened to hear the adversity affecting this gymnast. It's almost as if fate (or her own mentality) are against her ever becoming AA champion. Hope she can come back with a good bar set and maybe beam. I don't expect an all around 1st place challenge from her, the boat has long long sailed. A miracle may allow her to MAYBE medal in AA at world's or Olympic's but at this point, I think coming back as a specialist is the best approach. As for Anastasia, it will be interesting to see her again in competition, hopeful she can control her nerves more but honestly, I am not expecting much from her. Afanseyva is the one who I am interested in seeing again.

    ReplyDelete
  5. Finally, some sense coming out of Russia!

    ReplyDelete
  6. As much as I want to see Aliya compete, I think that this is without a doubt the right thing to do. I look forward to seeing her rested and ready to go, and hopefully we're done with all of this "run you to the ground nonsense". Should be fun come October!

    ReplyDelete

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