Yesterday the Ukrainian team took silver at the Universiade, while Japan which did not include many big names, took gold, getting ahead of Ukraine by more than two points.
In an interview to XSport UA, Verniaiev admitted that losing gold was their own fault because of mistakes and falls on parallel bars and high bar:
“That was our fault that we lost, although Japan also made mistakes. We did not perform well on parallel bars and high bar. The points that we lost on these apparatuses were the points that we “gave” them. This was our first competition in a long time and not everyone was properly ready. This was a preparation for the Worlds. We’ll take our mistakes into account and will continue working. We have two more World Cups ahead of us. This is a preparation, so all this is still ok.”
Verniaiev also commented on his infamous p-bars fall:
https://www.instagram.com/p/BYBOkT4HPfH/?hl=en&taken-by=verniaiev.gym
“Yes, I did hurt myself during the parallel bars routine, it was painful. We’ll see how I’ll feel tomorrow, whether it will still hurt.”
Apparently, Verniaiev’s talents lie not only in the gym, he is combining his gymnastics career with a PhD in Sports Management:
“I am studying in the Ukrainian National University of Physical Culture and Sport in Kiev, I’m a PhD student right now, we’re working on a dissertation, I’ll continue when I come back after the Universiade. It’s not easy, of course, but I have to find a way to combine everything.”
