Kazakhstan’s men were able to qualify as a team to the 2019 World Championships but finished only 16th and ended up with just one Olympic spot – it went to their star Milad Karimi. Aleksandr Kim, the head coach of the national MAG team, says they hope to get another spot at the Asian Championships:
“I’d like to not that despite the pandemic, Kazakhstan’s gymnasts will continue preparing for the Olympic qualifiers. Our main competition will be the Asian Championships which will take place in Chengdu, China on May 29th – June 1st. We hope to win one of the two Olympic spots available in the all-around.”
One of the main candidates to win a spot for Kazakhstan was Dmitriy Patanin but he recently got injured. However, according to Kim, several other gymnasts on the team are ready for the competition and did well at the past President’s Cup:
“Except for Milad Karimi, all our main athletes competed at the President’s Cup. Ilyas Azizov competed very confidently, very well at this competition. He won the all-around. Farukh Nabiyev finished second. Dmitriy Patanin who planned on competing at the Asian Championships is out of the competition due to an injury. Regarding individual events, Azizov won floor, Nariman Kurbanov won pommel horse, Akbar Jalali was the best on rings, Nabiyev – on vault, bars, and high bar. This was the first competition held in the country since March of 2020. After analyzing the performances, I can say that camps and practices during this difficult period paid off. I think we can hope to get one more Olympic spot.”
Milad Karimi has been training in Ukraine which is why he missed the national competition:
“Milad Karimi has been training with with the Ukrainian national team since last year. This year, he’s been at the camp there since the middle of January and until the beginning of March. At the moment, Karimi’s preparation is at a good level, he is progressing. He noticeably improved on certain events. His routines became more difficult. Milad will try it all out at the Open Ukrainian Championships in April.”
