Elena Zamolodchikova talked to SportExpress about Aliya Mustafina’s comeback and Russia’s chances at Worlds:
“Aliya has proven again and again that she is able to get herself together at the right moment. They’ve arrived in Doha in advance, they have time to get used to the apparatuses and to prepare mentally. I haven’t seen Mustafina’s latest routines, but, knowing Aliya, it’s hard not to believe in her”.
“It will be easier for [Russian] girls there because the competition is weaker. There’s the U.S. team that is very strong and we probably don’t even need to waste our energy competing with them right now. But all the rest can possibly be beaten, we absolutely have to fight for a top-3 spot. The guys, their team is just hungrier to win. All the guys are very young and ambitious and, objectively, they are a bit better prepared than the girls right now. But the competition on the men’s side is very strong as well: there are the Japanese, Chinese and U.S. teams, the others… But both our teams are competing there in the status of continental champions so we’re only expecting good results from them”.
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