Vadim Ivanov: “Russian Taekwondo team will perform in the strongest composition at the 1st European Games in Baku”

On the final day of the European Taekwondo Championships in Nalchik, Russian team claimed one more gold medal. It was won by Vladislav Larin (over 80 kg), who had crushed the representative of Azerbaijan Radik Isayev in the final (17:5).

The day before Anastasia Baryshnikova became European champion in the weight category up to 67 kg. The Russian team won a total of 8 medals (2 gold, 1 silver and 5 bronze) in Nalchik.

The head coach of the Russian national team Vadim Ivanov summed up the results of the tournament especially for the ROC Information Service.

“The World Taekwondo Championships, to be held from 12-19 May in Chelyabinsk, will be our main start this season. We considered the European Championships to be one of the three stages of qualification for the World Championships, giving the young athletes an opportunity to approve themselves in Nalchik. However, the team performed successfully even though it was not in the optimal composition.

We were exceptionally  pleased with the girls’ results: Milana Dryamova, Yulia Volkova (both Under-57 kg) and Arina Zhivotkova (Under-67 kg) won respectively silver and two bronze medals. Eight awards, including two gold won by Anastasia Baryshnikova and Vladislav Larin, is more than we have originally planned. Our goal – to finish among the 3 best in the overall team standings – has also been achieved. As to the number of gold medals we lost only to the team of Turkey, which had performed extremely well here. In general, the level of the competitions turned out to be quite high, despite the fact that there were no teams of Great Britain, Spain and Germany among the participants and the French team came in the mixed composition”, – said the Head Coach of the Russian national team.

According to Vadim Ivanov at the 1^st European Games in Baku the Russian Taekwondo team will fight for medals in all eight weight categories (four men and four women).

“The 1^st European Games are important in terms of getting to the 2016 Rio de Janeiro Olympic Games. The athletes will add another 40 points to their ratings for the first place in Baku. Therefore our strongest team will go to the EuroGames in June. What is different about it is that the guys will reach their peak form by the World Championships in May. This will complicate the preparations for the tournament in Baku, but we will still try to show the highest possible results there”,- said Vadim Ivanov.