The coach of Cuban athletes Nely Borras spoke about her emotions after returning to the Alina Kabaeva Sky Grace Rhythmic Gymnastics Academy.<blockquote>"We received a very warm welcome after the months we were busy with competitions. It was very nice and thrilling to return to the place where we prepared, to meet&nbsp; the coaches that worked with us and helped us. It was remarkable. We were happy to return and we got a wonderful welcome," she said.</blockquote>Nely noted that earlier training at the Academy played a very important role in the preparation for the Central American and Caribbean Games in San Salvador, where Gretel Mendoza took bronze.Now the gymnasts have flown back to Sochi to prepare for the tournament in Minsk and the Pan American Games, for which Gretel has already qualified.<blockquote>"Our goal was to get into the final and win a medal. This is very important for us," the coach said.</blockquote>Her second student Isabella Rojas, who will also perform in Minsk, said that she was touched by the warm welcome after returning to Sochi.<blockquote>"It was a really nice surprise for me that our coach Olesya and her daughters met us at the airport with balloons and a poster. I have never been greeted at the airport like this before. I had a warm welcome here, at the Academy. I feel like I am part of a family," the gymnast said.</blockquote>

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Opinion

The coach of Cuban athletes Nely Borras spoke about her emotions after returning to the Alina Kabaeva Sky Grace Rhythmic Gymnastics Academy.

"We received a very warm welcome!" Cuban gymnast Isabella Rojas and coach Nely Borras on their return to the Academy

Academy gymnasts will take part in the GOLDEN CUP tournament in Slovakia.The competition will be held in Samorin on April 26 and 27.The International Sky Grace Rhythmic Gymnastics Clubs Association will be represented by Karolina Tarasova, Ksenia Savinova, Yana Zaikina, Anna Vakulenko and Alexandra Borisova.&nbsp;Our gymnasts do not need a neutral status for participation because this is a club tournament and the girls were invited to perform as athletes of the Sky Grace International Clubs Association.

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Competitions

Our gymnasts do not need a neutral status for participation because this is a club tournament and the girls were invited to perform as athletes of the Sky Grace International Clubs Association.

Academy gymnasts will perform at the GOLDEN CUP tournament in Slovakia

Academy students Karolina Tarasova and Anna Vakulenko came to the training camp in Novogorsk.After one of the training sessions, Anna Vakulenko shared her emotions about the training at the national team's base.&nbsp;<blockquote>"I really wanted to come back here, I really liked training here. And Alina Kabaeva came to us, she also created such a warm atmosphere. The girls here are so experienced, especially in the masters. The girls here are the number ones in the Russian team, I looked at them and I always wanted to copy them and do better.For me, an example and an idol is always Alina Kabaeva because she trained in this same gym. And when we met her, she told us about her training, how it went, and this motivates me to train here more," Anna said.</blockquote>And Karolina Tarasova told who is an example to her.<blockquote>"There are girls I follow as an example, I really like them. Ulyana Janus, Masha Borisova used to train here, I also followed her, I wanted to try training here too. Alina Maratovna used to train here, she told us a lot of stories," Karolina said.</blockquote>

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In Novogorsk, the Academy students worked on the purity of their programs.

"I liked it a lot!" Karolina Tarasova and Anna Vakulenko talk about the training camp in Novogorsk

Athletes of the Alina Kabaeva Sky Grace Rhythmic Gymnastics Academy will take part in the Cup of the Strongest international tournament from May 2 to 4.Anna Vakulenko, Mariia Borisova, Alexandra Borisova, Ksenia Savinova, Yana Zaikina, Karolina Tarasova, Elena Styushina, Elina Khabirova, Karolina Pakhtusova and group exercise gymnasts Polina Zakharova, Alina Proschalykina, Nicole Andronchik, Nelli Reutskaya, Anna Gryaznova and Maria Romanova will perform at the competition in Moscow.

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The competition in Moscow will be held from May 2 to 4.

Academy gymnasts will participate in the Cup of the Strongest international tournament

The Belarusian gymnast showed the best result in the all-around among pre-juniors in the match meeting between gymnasts from St. Petersburg and Minsk.Ksenia Evdakimova from Belarus shared why she loves rhythmic gymnastics after performing at the Zhemchuzhina Center of Rhythmic Gymnastics.<blockquote>"I love gymnastics for its beauty, for its grace, for the fact that we must convey an image so that people understand what we are trying to tell. It is very beautiful."</blockquote>The athlete also shared her impressions from St. Petersburg.<blockquote>"The competition is very unusual, welcoming, pleasant, just like the city. "We were at the Peter and Paul Fortress. It is very unusual, has an interesting history."</blockquote>&nbsp;

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The Belarusian gymnast showed the best result in the all-around among pre-juniors in the match meeting between gymnasts from St. Petersburg and Minsk.

Ksenia Evdakimova, the winner of the match meeting between the teams of St. Petersburg and Minsk, spoke about what she loves rhythmic gymnastics for

Aleksandra Kirpichnikova from Germany came to the training camp at the Alina Kabaeva Sky Grace Rhythmic Gymnastics Academy.She is actively working on the cleanliness of her programs at Sirius under guidance of coach Evgenia Kirpichnikova and Academy specialist Olga Frolova.&nbsp;Evgenia Kirpichnikova described how the training sessions go:<blockquote>"Here, of course, it is clear, the best conditions, undoubtedly, qualified coaches, assistance. Basic help to correct the programs, to complicate them, so that they are competitive, so that the exercises are readable, so that it is visible to the judges, what is counted, what is not counted. We have already worked with Olga Borisovna with the ball. We changed several elements in the exercise, put two other skills. Thus, we complicated the exercise and made it cleaner."</blockquote>Olga Frolova shared in her turn how the elements for the routines were chosen and commended the gymnast's abilities:<blockquote>"We looked at what elements we could put in, what we could replace, what would cost more, what would be more logical and interesting in the exercise. We tried with the gymnast, what was more convenient for her and inserted it into the exercise; the gymnast will practice, prepare these programs for the competition. The girl is very hardworking, she tries to take everything, all the comments into account, she is not afraid, she takes risks. I think she will succeed."</blockquote>Alexandra participated twice in the Sky Grace international tournament — in 2023 and 2024.&nbsp;

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A gymnast from Germany arrived in the Academy for the training camp.

"She is very hardworking!" Evgenia Kirpichnikova and Olga Frolova talk about Aleksandra Kirpichnikova's training camp at the Academy

After the match meeting between the teams of St. Petersburg and Minsk, Mariia Borisova shared her impressions.<blockquote>"The format is truly a new one. I assess my performances at this tournament as good. Certainly, there were minor drawbacks but I passed through there fairly promptly, except the last one. I endeavored to the utmost and believe that I did everything I could at this tournament. Most probably, I performed for the last time at this tournament with the 'Do not Disappear' routine. We have compiled a new program with Irina Zenovka. We will not show all our cards so far but this is such an interesting program and a new image for me also," Mariia said.</blockquote>The gymnast also noted that she was glad to see Belarusian athletes in her hometown and praised the performances of Alina Harnasko and Anastasia Salos.&nbsp;<blockquote>"We are very good friends with the girls from Minsk, we communicate. I am very happy that they came here to us and that we managed to have an excellent tournament. I even got a chance to talk during the parade and have hugs before the competition. I can note that all of them have very interesting programs, they are so original in apparatus staging and the musical content. And I have watched the latest World Cup, certainly, Alina and Nastya are right like an outer space for me. Very interesting productions, how they perform them," she said.</blockquote>At the match meeting between the teams of St. Petersburg and Minsk, Maria Borisova won the silver medal in the all-around competition for seniors.

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At the competition, the gymnast became the silver medalist in the all-around in the seniors program.

Mariia Borisova shares her impressions of the match between the teams of St. Petersburg and Minsk

The Tokyo Olympics bronze medalist Alina Harnasko summed up the results of her performance at the match between teams of St. Petersburg and Minsk and spoke about the images in her programs.&nbsp;<blockquote>"I have updated all the four exercises this year, since the last Sky Grace tournament. All of them are different. I have returned the mysterious hoop. Then my favorite Spanish story in the ball, the character, the manner of movements and behavior.&nbsp; My clubs turned out to be very unusual. I try for a minute and thirty seconds to convey all the havoc that is sometimes created in my head. And the lyrical, beautiful and strong ribbon. Cathédrales, France," she said.</blockquote>The gymnast shared that she performed at the Zhemchuzhina Rhythmic Gymnastics Center for the first time.<blockquote>"The friendly atmosphere was felt. The stands in St. Petersburg welcomed me. I have never performed in St. Petersburg and this is my first time in Zhemchuzhina. And I am happy that I have finally performed here for the public. I am really happy when little children come up to me. And I have never said ‘no’," Alina said.</blockquote>Alina Harnasko won gold in the all-around seniors' program following the match between the teams of St. Petersburg and Minsk, which took place on April 23 at the Zhemchuzhina Rhythmic Gymnastics Center.

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The gymnast from Belarus won gold in the all-around in the seniors' program.

"I am glad that I performed here for the public." Alina Harnasko on the match between the teams of St. Petersburg and Minsk

Olympic champion Alina Kabaeva arrived in Novogorsk.She attended a training session of the Academy gymnasts who came to the national team base for training.The Olympic champion also watched how the choreographer of the Alina festival Irina Zenovka works with Karolina Tarasova on a new program with a ball.

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Academy Life

She also attended aAcademy gymnasts’ training session, who came to the national team base for training.

Olympic champion Alina Kabaeva visits the Russian national team training base in Novogorsk

Gymnast Alexandra Kirpichnikova from Germany arrived for training at the Alina Kabaeva Sky Grace Rhythmic Gymnastics Academy.Along with the athlete in Sirius is her coach - Evgeniya Kirpichnikova.Alexandra has taken part in the international Sky Grace tournament twice - in 2023 and 2024.

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The athlete from Germany arrived in Sirius together with her coach Evgeniya Kirpichnikova.

Alexandra Kirpichnikova arrives for Academy training

The Head judge of the match between the St. Petersburg and Minsk teams Natalia Lashchinskaya talked about the competition.<blockquote>"This is the match between two hero-cities, Minsk and Leningrad. And if you noticed, we have the hall decorated in this way also. We believe it will be a good competition. We will learn something from them, they will learn something from us," she Natalia said.</blockquote>She also shared what makes the Belarusian and Russian gymnasts special.&nbsp;<blockquote>"They have their own style. Every gymnast is special. One of them is a dramatic lyric, another one is playful, and the third one is the character one. So we follow all our traditions; since rhythmic gymnastics was born in St. Petersburg, we now have classics, and the modern now," she said.</blockquote>She noted that Mariia Borisova always tries herself in different images.<blockquote>"Mashenka, she tried herself and continues to try until now in an absolutely different image, this is a Spanish one, and this is a lyrical one also. We thought earlier that it would be a no-go for her, but look how lyrical is her ball performance, watching with tears in eyes. The gymnast has progressed a lot," she said.&nbsp;</blockquote>The match between the St. Petersburg and Minsk teams took place at the Zhemchuzhina Rhythmic Gymnastics Center on April 23.

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The Head judge of the competition told how the special style of the Belarusian and Russian gymnasts manifests itself.