Azerbaijan’s WAG team only includes four senior gymnasts and any injury can be devastating for the team. This year at the European Championships, Azerbaijan had the worst luck with injuries. Only three gymnasts came to Euros since Ekaterina Tishkova is still recovering from the injury she got at Worlds last year. Three gymnasts would be enough for the team competition since it’s “three up three count” but on the very first event, bars, Maria Smirnova injured her knee and had to scratch from the rest of the events. On the second event, beam, Marina Nekrasova landed on her head and hurt her neck. She had to be carried away on a stretcher. Yulia Inshina had to continue the competition by herself while worrying about her teammate:
“One of our girls got injured on the first event, she injured her knee and the second girl [got injured] on the second event, she hurt her neck. They couldn’t continue the competition, so I was continuing till the end by myself, without my team. Well, I did average, not bad and not great, I had one fall. I feel fine but I’m sorry for the girls and so that’s why I’m not in a good mood.
Q: How serious is Marina Nekrasova’s injury?
A: I don’t know yet because she was taken to a hospital. Smirnova [injured] her knee and, probably, it will require a surgery, but it’s not for sure yet. And Nekrasova – I don’t even know, she was taken away right from the podium and I haven’t seen her yet.
Q: Now that the two of them are injured and Tishkova hasn’t recovered yet, will you have to compete at Worlds by yourself?
A: It will depend on the treatment they receive. If everything goes well, I’d very much love for them to recover in time and everything will be great. If not, then I’ll try to compete for everyone else.
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