Ready! Set!

The 2nd CIS Games kicked off with rhythmic gymnastics competitions in Minsk. How beautiful it was! First Deputy Head of the Belarus President Administration Maksim Ryzhenkov, welcoming the participants of the competitions and spectators, noted that rhythmic gymnastics has long gone beyond the boundaries of just a sport and has become a great sports art. Hundreds of fans were able to make sure of this.

Belarusian gymnasts won 10 medals at the 2nd CIS Games in Minsk

Lala Kramarenko (Russia), Alina Harnasko (Belarus), Yelizaveta Zorkina (Belarus)

For three days, the performances of the graces gathered a full house. Crowded hall and crazy support from the stands. The girls who went out on the mat did not get tired of thanking the fans for the warm welcome. Belarusian sportswomen who opened the scoring with awards (let us remember that our junior team won gold in the all-around in the group exercise, Alina Harnasko won silver in the individual all-around and our team in the team event) continued to replenish the collection. Our girls won seven more medals — two gold, two silver and three bronze. 10 in total!
Our group players — Anna Shakun, Valeria Malkovich, Taisiya Erchak, Agniya Selivanova, Zlata Buchenkova and Kiryana Shevtsova — finished with gold. The team won the award of the highest standard in the exercise with five balls. Before that, the juniors took silver in the composition with five ropes — only a little lost to the Russians. 

Belarus’ national team young gymnasts claimed gold in exercise with 5 balls

The grace competitions were attended by many world-class stars — Alina Kabayeva, Yevgenia Kanayeva, Yana Kudryavtseva and not only. Two-time Olympic champion in artistic gymnastics Svetlana Khorkina also peeked into the Palace of Rhythmic Gymnastics.
“In addition to these competitions, I have not had time to watch anything yet — rhythmic gymnastics did not let me go! It always absorbs all my attention — it’s so beautiful. The CIS Games are competitions of an excellent format, our athletes show their skills on wonderful venues. It is a pity that there is no gymnastics in the list of sports included in the programme. I hope it will be presented at the 3rd CIS Games too!” Svetlana said.
Alina Kabayeva said that she has a lot in common with the Belarusian national team. After she lost at the Olympic Games in Sydney in 2000, she spent a lot of time with the Belarusian team, where she was very supported. And that is not all, “Irina Leparskaya gave me the road to big sport. In 1998, the European Championship was held in Portugal. I came to it for the first time, and Irina Aleksandrovna, my coach, said that I needed to be among the top 30. I said: ‘Well, among 30, fine’. And it so happened that I won there. At the same time, when I did a rope exercise well, the coach said that they would not give it [a high mark], because we do not have an official, Irina Leparskaya officiates from Belarus. I said that the second place was also great, but Irina Yuryevna gave me a higher mark than her apprentice. She said she could not give me less as I did well. For this I am very grateful...”
The competition ended with a drawing of awards in separate types for seniors. Our gymnasts have climbed the pedestal more than once. Alina Harnasko won gold in the ball event, silver in clubs, and bronze in hoop and ribbon. Yelizaveta Zorkina received a bronze medal for the ball.

Yelizaveta Zorkina received a bronze medal for the ball

Yelizaveta Zorkina said that for her, the completed competitions are, first of all, a great experience, “I was happy to perform at the 2nd CIS Games, as I was also at the 1st Games in Kazan. This time, however, the competition was quite different. They were held at home, with a numerous fans — in such an atmosphere, probably, I competed for the first time. It was a pleasure!”
One of the main stars of the Russian team, Arina Averina, also appreciated the reception in Minsk. She won gold in the hoop exercise.

Arina Averina won the gold medal in hoop exercises

“The tournament turned out to be intense, bright and grandiose. The audience was very supportive, you could feel it. On the last day, especially: there was a real battle, until the last it was not clear who would win. In fact, I didn’t set myself the goal of necessarily winning, but I didn’t want to let the team, coaches, myself down. I wanted to show what I can, to give joy to the audience,” Arina said.
In addition to Alina Harnasko and Arina Averina, Russian Lala Kramarenko won gold in single disciplines — she became the best in the clubs and ribbon exercise.

The Belarusian medal collection is constantly replenished

Belarusian Greco-Roman wrestlers won four awards. Abubakar Khaslakhanov became the champion of the 2nd CIS Games. Ilya Biteev became a silver medalist, Ilya Meleschik and Pavel Glinchuk won bronze medals.
Beach volleyball tournament was held in Molodechno. The medal catch of the Belarusians was as follows: the men’s duet took the bronze, our girls were content with silver. The female couple was one step away from winning awards of the highest dignity.
Belarusian judokas have 9 awards at the Games: Arina Makeenko's silver, as well as bronze medals of Arina Makeenko, Anna Sitnik, Viktoriya Suvorova, Sofia Voropay, Grigory Zurnachyan, Matvey Sychev, Yevgeny Morov and the bronze medal of the team tournament.
Belarusian weightlifters perform excellently. Diana Moiseevich, Yahor Papou and Henadz Laptseu climbed to the top step of the podium. In addition, Alina Shchepanova won silver, and Yekaterina Yakusheva and Ilya Zhernovsky became bronze medallists.
Cheer for our team!

By Tatiana Pastushenko