Moscow team wins Russian Championships and 2009 Euro team named

In first place was the team from Moscow with 17.05 points (Aliya Mustafina, Yulia Berger, Anna Myzdrikova, Maria Chibiskova, Elena Syrnikova and ZAMO!!! yay!!!) Second was from the Central Federal district, 169.1 points (Ksenia Afanasyeva, Ksenia Semenova, Dariya Goncharov, Tamara Kohadze, Anastas Cherepina, Evgenia Klimov) and third from Petersburg with 161.4 points (Tatiana Nabieva, Diana Sapronova, Irina Sazonov, Olga Alekseeva, Ekaterina Krylova and Alina Rybalova).
The Moscow and Central teams fought it out well for first place, the Ksenias leading their team, and it wasn't until the last rotation that Moscow came out on top. Afanasyeva made errors on the balance beam, costing her team one and a half points (ouch! but she was sick so we forgive her). Even after this, they were still in the lead! And then came the floor exercise. For the Moscow team to win, they would need to score an average of 14.5 points. Double world all-around champion Yuri Korolev was watching (the representative of the Central team) and he remarked, "It is not possible. They won't win."

First up was Yulia Berger from the CSKA school, trained by Elena and Vladimir Kuznetsov. He has said about her in the past, "She is talented, but very timid. The main thing to overcome is her fear, and then she will begin to grow as a gymnast." And, it seems as though this has been accomplished. Yulia got to the national team last year. Most of the time she remained in the shadows, training, but wasn't involved in any major competitions. She started her team off with a 14.4. She did not have quite enough difficulty, but got her team off to a great start.

Next was fifteen-year-old Aliya Mustafina. She scored a 14.8! And finally was Anna Myzdrikova. Frankly speaking, it was difficult to believe that Anna would hold up under such pressure. This would be a test not only of her ability, but also of stability. She also scored a 14.8! She did not only perform under the pressure, but performed with honour! In one rotation, the Moscow team won back over two points.
Competing for the Central team on floor were the two Ksenias and Dariya Goncharov, but they could not retake the lead.

The team which placed fourth was from the Volga region, including Anna Dementyeva, Kristina Goryunova, and Svetlana Klyukina (who has recovered from her injuries).

At the end of the competition, the national trainer Alexandrov was very happy. "I am pleased with the results, first of all because we can look at the competitive readiness of teh gymnasts. They work on competitions, work on results. Readiness for the beginning of the international season is visible.

He named Ksenia Semenova, Ksenia Afanasyeva, Kristina Goryunova and Yulia Berger for the European team - the Ksenias and Kristina as all-arounders, and Yulia to compete on vault and floor. "I want to make particular not of Semenova and Afanasyeva - they are the unconditional leaders of this national team. They are very hardworking, very focused on results. Their results here are despite the injuries which plagued them previously. Afanasyeva was not on the podium for the all-around only because she was sick. Also look at Anna Myzdrikova's performance which clinched the victory for the Moscow team - she has performed for the first time as required as a member of the national team. She still needs to prove herself.."

(Sorry about the last bit being muddly - I couldn't quite understand it.)

Results of the men's team competition:

Central Region - 262.45 (Dmitry Barkalov, Timur Kuzmin, Anton Neudakin, Alexander Kalabin, Sergei Khorokhorkin, Yuri Ryazanov)
Siberia - 256.8 (Andrei Cherkasov, Maxin Devyatovsky, Anton Golotsutskov, Nikita Ignatyev, Konstantin Pluzhnikov)
Moscow - 254.225 (Mikhail Bodnar, Emin Garbiov, Dmitry Gogotov, Vladimir Olennikov, Dmitry Stolyarov, Dmitry Takubovsky)