During the communication with the coaching staff and handball players Stanislav Pozdnyakov noted that the forced reduction of the international calendar and, at the same time, the increase in the number of domestic starts in playing sports should motivate young athletes to fight more actively for places in the main squad, to work with maximum dedication in training, not to allow themselves any indulgences. In the course of communication the team presented Stanislav Pozdnyakov with a Rostov-Don club game jersey with the number 13.
– It is a very symbolic coincidence, it is my youngest daughter’s game number, said the ROC President with a smile while accepting the gift.
Answering journalists’ questions, the head of the ROC noted that the current situation in Russian sports is seriously different from the previous two years.
– In 2022, it was very difficult for all sports federations, including junior national teams, due to the uncertainty of the calendar. Now the competition grid is formed, which allows to compensate for the dropped international starts. Under current conditions, our Olympic team will not be able to compete at the Paris Games, but I am absolutely sure that in 2028 in Los Angeles, Russian athletes will compete for medals as part of a unified team representing our country. We need to prepare for these Games now, paying special attention to the nearest reserve. Now the ROC is doing a lot of work in this direction: we are collecting information, analyzing the activities of specialized schools and Olympic reserve schools across the country in order to implement an effective program to promote the training of our athletes by 2028.
In all probability, the first complex international competitions in which Russian athletes will take part will be the Youth Olympic Games-2026 in Senegal. We are preparing for them, too. There is no unhealthy ambition within Africa, unlike the so-called western bloc. Besides, children’s and youth sports, even in the paradigm in which the International Olympic Committee is now moving, is still the least politicized component.
In Rostov-on-Don, at meetings with the regional governor and the region’s sports leadership, we were just discussing the topic of forming an Olympic reserve and the conditions for its training. Rostov region has very good sports traditions, Don athletes have won a large number of medals at the Olympic Games. For example, there is a very serious handball center here, a well-established system of training teams of all levels. In the long term, why don’t leading athletes representing the Donetsk and Luhansk People’s Republics , Zaporizhzhya and Kherson regions try to make their way into Rostov-Don and other teams in game sports?! It will still happen, regardless of our desires. For our part, we must help this process to run its course.
In general, I think we should move away from the term “new territories”. Donbass, Luhansk People’s Republic, Zaporizhzhya, Kherson Oblast are already full-fledged regions of the Russian Federation, and their athletes should be fully integrated into the system of competitions and training camps, – Stanislav Pozdnyakov emphasized.
