Ukrainian MAG team didn’t quite have the European Championships they expected to have. Igor Radivilov, a usual medal threat on two events, wasn’t able to win any this time and Oleg Verniaiev was too injured to compete for the medals. Petro Pakhnyuk became the unexpected leader of the team winning silver on parallel bars.
Gennady Sartynsky, the head coach of the Ukrainian MAG, said that he expects Radivilov to do better at future competitions while for Oleg, he predicts a huge amount of hard work:
“Igor Radivilov was very well ready for the European Championhips and we hoped that his two events – rings and vault – would bring medals and he showed it in the qualification. But, you know how it is in sports, he burned out a bit, he felt that he could win and this, perhaps, interfered. We’re supporting him now and trying to distract him from this loss. I think he will show good results at the next competition.”
“Oleg Verniaiev after his surgeries needs to dig a very deep hole with a shovel every day in order to get to competitions. Blisters, injuries, whether he hurts or now, nine hours of training per day.”
“I’m not surprised that Petro Pakhnyuk is currently leading the standings in the all-around World Cup series. I knew that he was a good gymnast, I saw him before the Olympics and realized that he would be able to show results if you work with him properly. There were some mistakes but after coming back to Ukraine, he started winning World Cups, medals, and here, look, he even won a silver at European Championships at the age of 28.”
Verniaiev, Pakhnyuk, and Radivilov have all qualified to the European Games in June which will be their next major competition.
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