"It should be honest and fair!" Coach Elena Bogatova speaking about the all-Russian Sky Grace Cup competition

Coach of gymnasts from Chelyabinsk Elena Bogatova told us how the Sky Grace Cup qualification had taken place in the Ural Federal District.

"We came to this competition with girls from the Ural Federal District.  We had qualifying competitions in Yekaterinburg, and the best five girls in the masters program, based on results, came to these competitions. Three teams of group exercises for candidates and three for the masters of sports program. I really like is that there is an opportunity for many regions to take part. In group exercises, for example, one team is from the Chelyabinsk region, one is from the Sverdlovsk region, and the next team comes from another region, from the Tyumen region. I think that this is the right way to develop these rules exactly because group rules also differ from the international rules and from all-Russian rules."

She highlighted specificities of judging according to the Sky Grace International Association rules.

"It should be honest, professional, and fair everywhere. Because the rules have been developed, they are approved by the Russian Ministry of Sports, and the rules are the same for everyone. And at Sky Grace in the Ural Federal District, our judging was, I think, very fair."

The professional also shared her expectations from the all-Russian tournament.

"A lot of strong children came. I certainly expect great interest from the competition. Because I saw some children, they improved a lot, made a lot of progress. I wish all the girls, all the coaches, all the judges success and best of luck. I expect interesting competitions, I expect to learn something new, see something new, see some new things, maybe combinations, maybe elements. Because according to the Sky Grace rules, there is a huge opportunity for choosing elements not only when it comes to doing them physically, but also with the objects."

The all-Russian Sky Grace Cup rhythmic gymnastics competition is being held in the Academy from April 10 to 14.