"We create competitions that people want to come to!" Alina Kabaeva about the Sky Grace tournament

During her visit to the international Crystal Rose tournament and the II CIS Games in Minsk, Olympic champion Alina Kabaeva noted the high level of organization and stressed that it is very important to bring together young gymnasts and prominent athletes.

 "I am very pleased that competitions like this are held here, that children train here. The Belarusian school is wonderful. Of course, they have always been our competitors, but as I always say, there are no enemies in sports, there are rivals in sports.  Competitions are excellent, the level is high. Even at international competitions, world and European championships, we will not be able to see such cool, super gymnasts. And here we saw them. We saw both the present and the future. So I am very happy to be here," she said.

She also thanked the head coach of the Belarusian national team Irina Leparskaya for the invitation to the competition and her contribution to the development of the sport.

"I would like to thank Irina Leparskaya for the invitation, for what she is doing in Belarus, developing rhythmic gymnastics. I am very happy for the Belarusian team, and for the Russian team. If we develop our sport within our country, then we will be the first in the international arena," the Olympic champion said.

Alina Kabaeva also announced the participation of Belarusian gymnasts in the Sky Grace tournament, which will be held in Shanghai at the end of November.

 "The international tournament will be held for the third time in a row.  We’ve invited the national team of Belarus. They agreed, and we are very glad to see them. I want to say a big thank you to the Chinese side, which is now helping us to organize this big, beautiful, wonderful holiday. We understand that our sport does not exist on the international arena, but we ourselves are creating the competitions that people would want to attend," she said.

The Sky Grace Tournament 2023 will be held in Shanghai this November.

 In 2022, the tournament was hosted by Alina Kabaeva Sky Grace Rhythmic Gymnastics Academy in Sochi, and it was held at the VTB Arena in Moscow in 2021.