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Mustafina: It’s easier to coach than compete

Aliya Mustafina is now national coach with responsibility for the junior WAG team.  She runs a happy ship; her gymnasts are confident and there is a good team spirit evident.

The leader of the team, Zlata Osokina, couldn’t compete in Kazan against China this week as she was resting an injury.  Her absence was precautionary.  Now read on as Aliya Mustafina sums up how the competition went.

Source : TASS.  Google translate.

‘Two-time Olympic champion in artistic gymnastics Aliya Mustafina admitted that it was more difficult for her to perform as an athlete than to participate in competitions as a coach. She told TASS about this during a match between the junior artistic gymnastics teams of Russia and China in Kazan.


đŸ’¬ “Now, probably, everyone will be surprised, but it was more difficult for me to perform,” said Mustafina. “I don’t know why this is so, they usually say, on the contrary, it would be better if I went out and did it myself. It was more difficult for me to perform than now to take the girls out.” Of course, there are worries, but there is always hope that everything will work out. There is excitement, but it doesn’t knock you out.”


Mustafina noted that she was pleased with the performance of the Russian team at the competition in Kazan. “We are more than satisfied with the results. Naturally, there is still something to work on, where to strive. And so, for the first start that was quite serious in terms of organization, everything turned out more than successfully,” the coach said.


The leader of the Russian women's youth artistic gymnastics team, Zlata Osokina, was unable to take part in the competition in Kazan due to an injury; now the athlete feels fine. Senior coach of the team Aliya Mustafina told TASS about this during a match between the junior teams of Russia and China in Kazan.


đŸ’¬"Now everything is fine with her, everything is fine. We just took care of her so as not to worsen the situation, so to speak. But nothing serious, everything is fine. And so, in principle, we had the strongest lineup, the strongest girls, not counting Zlaty,” said Mustafina.’


Links :

https://tass.ru/sport/19379401

https://tass.ru/sport/19379307

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