The Russian Gymnastics Championship will be held in Kazan from April 6 to 17
From April 6 to 17, the Kazan Federal Gymnastics Training Center will host the Russian Gymnastics Championship. Six Olympic champions will take part in it: Nikita Nagorny, Artur Dalaloyan, Vladislav Urazova, David Belyavsky, Victoria Listunova and Denis Ablyazin, as well as other athletes from different regions of the country.
"All regions of the country where gymnastics exists and develops will be represented at the Russian Championship in Kazan. 65 women and about 90 men have already been declared. We are pleased that the Tatarstan national team will also perform. We expect the best athletes, the level of the tournament will be very high, the whole world of gymnastics of our country will gather," RT Sports Minister Vladimir Leonov said at a press conference in Tatar-inform.
This year, the Russian Gymnastics Championship will be held in a new format: from April 6 to 10, women and juniors will compete, and from 11 to 17 men and juniors. It will be broadcast both on the Internet and on television. The opening ceremony will take place on April 6 at 17:30.
"I think this is a very big event for fans of gymnastics and sports in general. When planning this Russian championship, we expected to qualify for European or even world competitions in Kazan later. But now these prospects are not feasible. Nevertheless, interest in Russian gymnastics is high in the world, especially after the Tokyo Olympics," said Marat Bariev, President of the Tatarstan Gymnastics Federation.
According to him, 17 athletes will participate in the Russian championship: 10 in the youth category and seven in the adult category. In addition, there will be many honored guests, one of whom will be four-time Olympic champion Alexei Nemov. The teams of the federal districts will participate in the championship. The Tatarstan team will act as part of the PFD team.
"This year the European Championship for juniors will be held. Now our athletes are not allowed anywhere, but we hope that by August the situation will change. The Russian Championship will be a selection for further performances," added the head coach of the Tatarstan national gymnastics team Igor Beluzhenkov.
In total, 14 sets of awards will be awarded within the framework of the championship and 24 within the framework of the Russian Gymnastics Championship. At the same time, the level of the competition will be very high, as it will bring together top world athletes who represent Russia, explained the chief judge of the competition Lyubov Botova.
"We will have top athletes in world gymnastics. We can say that the Russian championship is akin to the world championship. To win Russia is equivalent to winning the World Cup," she concluded.
The entrance to the competition for spectators is not limited. The opening ceremony will take place on April 6 at 17:30.