Rusudan Sikharulidze tournament - partial results

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.  Ksenia Afanasyeva performed vault only, Komova bars and Paseka bars and vault.  I do not know why Sosnitskaya did not compete.

This was really quite a good outing for the youngsters on the team, and the specialists.  I just hope that the maximum number of gymnasts remains healthy for Worlds - it is the first time in ages that the teams have had some depth.  On the basis of these results, as Andrei Rodionenko said a week ago, the WAG team will be competing for silver medals at best.  My opinion is that the specialists on the MAG team - eg Nagorny on vault, Ablyazin on floor and rings - will have a better shot than the women at gold this year.  

I have a feeling that the WAG team will need the stability of Shelgunova in Glasgow, as she is a good team player.   But it is still too early to speculate.

Molodyets to all the gymnasts!!

Results courtesy of the RGF www.sportgymrus.ru

Videos thanks to Ksenia Afanasyeva and Lake Krugloye on Tumblr : 

http://lakekrugloye.tumblr.com/post/127855622779/tutkhalyan-vt2-ef-video-by-afanasyeva

http://lakekrugloye.tumblr.com/post/127855606671/spiridonova-ub-ef-video-by-afanasyeva

http://lakekrugloye.tumblr.com/post/127855584916/paseka-vt1-ef-video-by-afanasyeva