Holon Rhythmic Gymnastics Grand Prix ended

The Rhythmic Gymnastics Grand Prix has come to an end in Israel Holon. The tournament attracted the attention of fans of this sport with a rather strong line-up of participants. This was especially true for seniors participating in both the international tournament and the Grand Prix. Russians  Yana Kudryavtseva ,  Anna Trubnikova , Margarita Mamun, Alexandra Merkulova,  Maria Titova , Ukrainian women Alina Maksimenko and Victoria Mazur, Belarusians Melitina Stanyuta and  Arina Sharopa , Bulgarian Sylvia Miteva, Azerbaijani  Lala Yusifova ,  Victoria Filanovski  and Neta Rivkin from Israel (the latter due to illness) and others could claim the highest awards of these competitions.

And if in the competitions of juniors the Russian woman Yulia Bravikova was considered the clear leader  , then it was rather difficult to predict the winner in the competitions of her older colleagues.

On the first day of the all-around seniors in the Grand Prix program, after two events, a circle of contenders for awards emerged:  Margarita Mamun, Alexandra Merkulova, Alina Maksimenko, Melitina Stanyuta and Sylvia Miteva . I thought it would be difficult for the judges in the second part of the competition when choosing the strongest. But it turned out to be the opposite. The annoying mistakes of Melitina Stanyuta, Alexandra Merkulova and especially Alina Maksimenko (losses in the hoop – twice and the ball) dashed their hopes for prizes in the all-around, and before the latter they completely closed the path to two finals. More stable in this situation were Margarita Mamun, Sylvia Miteva and … Victoria Filanovski, who performed cleanly and thus skillfully took advantage of the flaws of her rivals. In this order, the places on the podium were distributed in the all-around.

The finals took place on the second day. And here, too, there were some surprises, or rather some strange decisions on the part of the judges. No, no, all the athletes who won prizes, most likely, should have been there, but, in our opinion, not in those types of programs in which they were noted by the refereeing. As an example, the performance of  Alina Maksmenko  with the clubs was with mistakes, but was drawn to gold, and her emotional and almost flawless ribbon became “bronze” (they should have been swapped). But Alina’s mistakes are difficult to notice from the first time (if they are not obvious), because at first you look at her, succumbing to her artistic hypnosis, and only after a while you realize that perhaps not everything was so smooth). That’s how it happened with the judges, apparently,  and, in fact, a magnificent Sylvia Miteva  at least once deserved to stand on the highest step of the podium. Margarita Mamun , having taken two third places in the first types, withdrew from the competition due to injury. and it’s a pity – I still wanted to watch it.

Hoop Event Final
1. Melitina Staniouta (BLR) 17.383
2. Silviya Miteva (BUL) 17.317
2. Margarita Mamun (RUS) 17.317
4. Maria Titova (RUS) 17.267
5. Djamila Rakhmatova (UZB) 15.833
6. Viktoria Gorbunova (KAZ) 15.683
7. Viktoria Filanovsky (ISR) 15.200
8. Nataly Mendelson (ISR) 14.750

Ball Event Final
1. Aleksandra Merkulova (RUS) 17.650
2. Silviya Miteva (BUL) 17.217
3. Margarita Mamun (RUS) 17.133
4. Lala Yusifova (AZE ) 16.967
5. Djamila Rakhmatova (UZB) 16.267
6. Viktoria Filanovsky (ISR) 16.233
7. Viktoria Gorbunova (KAZ) 15.667
8. Jelizaveta Gamalejeva (LAT) 15.050

Clubs Event Final
1. Alina Maksymenko (UKR) 17.567
2. Melitina Staniouta (BLR) 17.517
3. Viktoria Filanovsky (ISR) 17.200
4. Silviya Miteva (BUL) 17.100
5. Aleksandra Merkulova (RUS) 17.033
6. Lala Yusifova (AZE) 16.867
7. Nataly Mendelson (ISR) 15.600
8. Jelizaveta Gamaleyeva (LAT) 15.067

Ribbon Event Final
1. Maria Titova (RUS) 17.567
2. Melitina Staniouta (BLR) 17.300
3. Alina Maksymenko (UKR) 17.017
4. Silviya Miteva (BUL) 16.833
5 Viktoria Filanovsky (ISR) 16.650
6. Djamila Rakhmatova (UZB) 15.683
7. Nataly Mendelson (ISR) 15.300
8. Lala Yusifova (AZE) 15.283

Yana Kudryavtseva  (Russia) won in the international senior All-Around tournament  , Ekaterina Galkina  (Belarus) became the second , Victoria Mazur  (Ukraine) became the  third  . Juniors: 1.  Yulia Bravikova  (Russia); 2.  Anna Bozhko  (Belarus); 3.  Karina Katyukhina  (Russia).