Rodionenko: Mustafina and Poliashov will go to European Games

The European Championships last week were the final qualifying competition for the 2nd European Games that will take place in Minsk in June. There is no public list of qualifiers yet but for teams like Russia, who had two non-nominative spots for both WAG and MAG for the last year’s Euros and multiple individual medalists this year, there are multiple options to choose from when forming the team.

Earlier, Valentina Rodionenko said that Aliya Mustafina and David Belyavskiy were preparing for the European Games. Both can take the non-nominative spots, while the third spot on the WAG team has to be Paseka, Iliankova or Melnikova and on the MAG team, Nagornyy, Dalaloyan, Abliazin, Poliashov, or Lankin as all these gymnasts medalled in the event finals at Euros.

Valentina Rodionenko told R-Sport that on the women’s side Mustafina is still the main contender and Melnikova will likely be the one who will get the nominative spot. While at Euros, Artur Dalaloyan said he expected to go to the Games, according to Rodionenko, MAG team leaders will likely stay home and rest:

“For girls, Mustafina is listed [for the European Games]. We’re still deciding regarding the rest. Most likely, Melnikova will go out of the medalists from Euros. We want to send a young gymnast as the third one, it will be either Shchekoldina or Belousova. The training camp will start on April 22, and we’ll decide there. [For men], it’s definite that Poliashov will go, he’s a medalist from the European Championships. Perhaps, we’ll send Ignatyev. We’re still talking about the candidates. We’re also discussing the third candidate, we have options. We’re not likely to send the leaders there but, perhaps, Dalaloyan and Nagornyy will make the team. David Belyavskiy is also among the candidates, we’ll see what the camp shows”.

Support Gymnovosti on Patreon from only $1 a month and help us bring to you even more awesome gymnastics coverage!

Buy cool gymnastics-themed t-shirts, hoodies, pillows, phone cases, and more at our store on Teepublic!