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Russia's (Partial) Worlds Team Announced

The Russian Federation has just announced their (partial) team headed to the World Championships in Antwerp, Belgium at the end of September.



Ksenia Afanasyeva, Aliya Mustafina and Tatiana Nabieva have been named to the Russian World Championship team. Ksenia and Aliya have essentially been a lock, showing excellent performances at the European Championships and the University Summer Games. Tatiana, who was an alternate for the Russian Olympic team, had been a standout junior on the Russian team, but dealt with injuries in 2011 & 2012.

Tatiana came back at the Universiade in Kazan where she helped the Russian team win gold in the team final. Individually, she took home a silver on the uneven bars behind Aliya. Just this past weekend at the Russian Cup, Tatiana took home the gold in the all-around and golds on vault, bars and beam. It seems time is treating her well. At 18, she looks confident and poised and has really proved herself as an asset to the Russian team and I'm really looking forward to seeing her at Worlds.

The final athlete has yet to be named. Viktoria Komova has a strong possibility of being named, even though she's been suffering from injuries for much of the year and most recently, became so sick, she had to be hospitalized. It was originally reported that Vika just had a viral infection, but it's now being reported as viral meningitis, a far more serious infection. If Vika's health doesn't hold up, there's always the possibility of Maria Paseka. Maria showed she's not just a vaulter, but she's a strong bar worker. She won the bronze medal at the European Championships in April on bars. But, since Aliya and Tatiana are already going and are both stronger bar workers than Maria, it's likely she'd be taken for vault.

Sources:
sports.ru
The Couch Gymnast
Rodionenko: Afanasyev, Mustafina and Nabiyeva go to the World Cup Gymnastics
http://www.itar-tass.com/c20/848195.html

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