Afanasyeva Leads Russian Cup Qualification

Ksenia Afanasyeva

Ksenia Afanasyeva was the top qualifier at the Russian Cup preliminaries, held Thursday in Lobnya.

Afanasyeva topped world uneven bars champion Ksenia Semyonova by .050. Both gymnasts are coached by Marina Nazarova.

The top two gymnasts each counted one fall: Afanasyeva fell on her third tumbling pass on floor and Semyonova fell on balance beam.

"I am in much better form right now and as a whole the day went well," said Afanasyeva, who turns 17 in September. "I'm unhappy only with my big blunder on floor exercise. It was probably nerves. I wanted to come out 100 percent, to show myself, although winning the qualification competition was not my principal aim. Everything will be determined only in the final."

Afanasyeva earned the high score on vault (15.225), the second highest on beam (15.775) and the third highest on bars (15.125). Semyonova's 16.350 on uneven bars was the high score of the day.

With four clean routines, Svetlana Klyukina finished third ahead of 2004 Olympian Anna Pavlova.

"All the results are just preliminary qualification, so there should be no talk about any victories," Russian head coach Andrei Rodionenko said. "Don't pay attention to the falls — in particular, Semyonova on beam. This is life, it happens. We are increasing the difficulty in the routines, so naturally we sometimes stumble. Ksyusha Afanasyeva did not perform very successfully at the last European Championships, but she had insufficient experience and psychological endurance. Still, the girl made a comeback after a severe injury. More recently though she has become more confident. This can be seen with the naked eye."

Yulia Lozhechko had a disastrous day, finishing 12th. 2000 Olympic gold medalist Yelena Zamolodchikova finished 13th, her chances fading for a third Olympic Games.

"Lena is simply not ready," Rodionenko said. "She has been injured for a long time, and had some other problems. Like everyone she is hoping to go to Beijing. Hope, as they say, is the last thing to die."

The competition is the first under the leadership of women's senior coach Alexander Kiryashov. Kiryashov, the former junior national coach, swapped roles with Viktor Gavrichenko in April. Kiryashov's own gymnasts include 1996 Olympic silver medalist Yevgenia Kuznetsova and 2008 Junior European champion Tatiana Nabiyeva.

"Many today experienced excitement, adrenaline," Kiryashov said. "They are girls, almost all are very young. It is important to us to check the nerves of each, because indeed at the Olympics in the [team final] we count three scores out of three, and mistakes are unacceptable. Today we have seen Yulia Lozhechko, for example, have some pure psychological breaks. Our task at hand is to find people who compete well with minimal risk."

After the Russian Cup, nine male and nine female gymnasts will be named as the Olympic training squad for Beijing.

Competition continues Friday in Lobnya with the men's all-around final. Defending champion Sergei Khorokhordin was the top qualifier in Wednesday's preliminaries.

External Link: Russian Gymnastics Federation

2008 Russian Cup
July 3, Lobnya

Women's Qualification (Top Six)
1. Ksenia Afanasyeva (Tula) 60.800
2. Ksenia Semyonova (Tula) 60.750
3. Svetlana Klyukina (Severodvinsk) 60.275
4. Anna Pavlova (Orekhovo-Zuevo) 59.975
5. Yekaterina Kramarenko (Saint Petersburg) 59.125
6. Kristina Pravdina (Voronezh) 57.925

Others
10. Lyudmila Yezhova Grebenkova (Moscow) 56.500
12. Yulia Lozhechko (Bryansk) 55.250
13. Yelena Zamolodchikova (Moscow) 54.075

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