Gymnastics - 12th Voronin Cup

The Russian women and Japanese men were big winners at the 12th Voronin Cup, held Thursday and Friday at the Moscow Dinamo club. The competition is held in honor of the late Mikhail Voronin, the 1966 world champion who led Moscow's Dinamo program for many years.

Muscovite Yelena Zamolodchikova won the senior women's competition, topping Ukrainian Olga Scherbatykh and Russian Polina Miller.

Though Zamolodchikova suffered a fall on floor exercise, her coach Nadezhda Maslennikova told "Sport-Express" she was pleased with her pupil's performance after a difficult season. At the recent world championships in Melbourne, Zamolodchikova finished 16th all-around and fourth on both vault and floor exercise.

"After the year we had, it would be desirable to head into the New Year's holiday as a winner, so Lena gave all her best here just like she did at the worlds," Maslennikova said. "Two fourth places at the world championships are not an occasion for pride, but on the other hand, I'm convinced that only judging mistakes deprived her of the silver medal on floor. And also it must be mentioned that we were plagued this season with serious injuries."

Maslennikova said Zamolodchikova will take a short rest, and begin serious training again in January for the American Cup in February and the Russian national championships in March.

Japan's Kyouichi Watanabe won the senior men's competition. Teammate Tatsuki Nakashima tied Russia's Dmitry Barkalov for second place.

"The Japanese brought interesting kids," Russian technical director Andrei Rodionenko said. "Not yet great stars, but they impress in another way: all the gymnasts from this country surprisingly perform very exactly, showing a high enough standard. A very decent school is visible."

Russians Karina Myasnikova and Emin Garibov won the junior all-around titles and two titles each in the event finals.

American juniors from the WOGA club won four medals. They were coached in Moscow by Yevgeny Marchenko, who guided Carly Patterson to the Olympic all-around title in 2004.

"I'm at the Voronin Cup for the first time," Marchenko said. "I was tempted to come from the stories about it from my partner Valery Liukin."

Liukin said he has brought his gymnasts to the Voronin Cup the past several years.

"For me it is a remarkable opportunity to communicate with old friends, and for American juniors, it gives them the chance to prove themselves in Russia," Liukin said. "It's important; despite the difficulties of the present time, Russian gymnastics will always be a leader. The traditions in this sport in this country are great."

Guests observing the competition included Liukin's daughter, American world champion Nastia Liukin, and Russian Olympic champion Alexei Nemov, as well as newlywed couple Lyudmila Yezhova and Georgy Grebenkov.

On Friday, the Liukin family sat down with Russian journalist Natalia Kalugina for an interview with radio station "Echo of Moscow." The Russian-language transcript of the interview can be found on Echo's Web site by clicking here.

2005 Voronin Cup
Moscow, December 15-16

Women's Team
1. Moscow Dinamo 73.275
2. Ukraine 71.275
3. All-Russia Dinamo 69.950

Senior Women's All-Around
1. Yelena Zamolodchikova RUS 35.750
2. Olga Scherbatykh UKR 35.725
3. Polina Miller RUS 35.400
4. Marina Proskurina UKR 35.100
5. Maria Chibiskova RUS 34.450
6. Anna Grudko RUS 33.800
7. Alexandra Vanina RUS 33.375
8. Christine Nguyen USA 32.950
9. Leyla Gruzdeva RUS 32.850
10. Valeria Maksyuta UKR 32.650

Senior Women's Vault
1. Oksana Chusovitina UZB 9.350
2. Anna Grudko RUS 9.150
3. Yelena Zamolodchikova RUS 9.00

Senior Uneven Bars
1. Polina Miller RUS 9.500
2. Svetlana Klyukina RUS 9.300
3. Marina Proskurina UKR 8.400

Senior Balance Beam
1. Marina Proskurina UKR 9.325
2. Yelena Zamolodchikova RUS 9.100
3. Olga Scherbatykh 8.725

Senior Floor Exercise
1. Maria Chibiskova RUS 9.250
2. Yelena Zamolodchikova RUS 9.000
3. Olga Scherbatykh UKR 8.800

Junior Women's All-Around
1. Karina Myasnikova RUS 35.975
2. Ksenia Afanaseva RUS 34.875
3. Alyona Sosnovtseva RUS 34.750

Junior Women's Vault
1. Alyona Sosnovtseva RUS 9.225
2. Nadezhda Chikhiryova RUS 8.975
3. Kristyana Olavsdottir ISL 8.650

Junior Uneven Bars
1. Karina Myasnikova RUS 9.100
2. Rebecca Bross USA 8.150
3. Taylor Spears USA 7.500

Junior Balance Beam
1. Karina Myasnikova RUS 9.425
2. Ksenia Afanaseva RUS 9.000
3. Christa Tanella USA 8.500

Junior Women's Floor Exercise
1. Ksenia Afanaseva RUS 9.300
2. Alyona Sosnovtseva RUS 8.925
3. Christa Tanella USA 8.525

Men's Team
1. Japan 106.300
2. Ukraine 106.000
3. All-Russia Dinamo 105200
4. Great Britain 105.000
5. Dinamo Moscow 103.500
5. Russia 102.400
6. Kazakhstan 102.300

Senior Men's All-Around
1. Kyouichi Watanabe JPN 53.400
2. Dmitry Barkalov RUS 53.00
2. Tatsuki Nakashima JPN 53.000
4. Ruslan Panteleimonov GBR 52.800
5. Ilya Giorgadze GEO 52.700
6. Pavel Skiba UKR 52.700
7. Dmitry Gogotov RUS 52.200
8. Maxim Devyatovsky RUS 52.200

Senior Men's Floor Exercise
1. Gogotov RUS 9.200
2. Barkalov RUS 9.150
3. Baitsev KAZ 8.800

Senior Pommel Horse
1. Kryukov RUS 9.550
2. Petrishko KAZ 9.400
3. Lobachyov RUS 9.300

Senior Still Rings
1. Vorobiev UKR 9.600
2. Kozlov BLR 9.250
3. Devyatovsky RUS 9.700

Senior Men's Vault
1. Gogotov RUS 9.300
2. Skiba UKR 9.275
3. Bondarenko RUS 9.200

Senior Parallel Bars
1. Kryukov RUS 9.625
2. Giorgadze GEO 9.500
3. Nakashima JPN 9.000

Senior High Bar
1. Likhovitsky RUS 9.700
2. Skiba UKR 9.600
3. Kruzhilov BLR 9.450

Junior Men's All-Around
1. Emin Garibov RUS 50.100
2. Hiroyuki Imai JPN 50.000
3. Hitoshi Aoyama JPN 49.400

Junior Floor Exercise
1. Garibov RUS 8.450
2. Imai JPN 8.200
3. Aoyama JPN 9.150

Junior Pommel Horse
1. Petrov RUS 8.950
2. Aoyama JPN 7.650
3. Garibov RUS 7.550

Junior Still Rings
1. Kukushkin RUS 8.300
2. Aoyama JPN 7.700
3. Cherkasov RUS 7.550

Junior Men's Vault
1. Aoyama JPN 9.050
2. Ignatenkov RUS 8.800
3. Imai JPN 8.775

Junior Parallel Bars
1. Garibov RUS 8.650
2. Petrov RUS 8.400
3. Imai JPN 7.900

Junior High Bar
1. Imai JPN 9.050
2. Petrov RUS 8.600
3. Garibov RUS 8.350

Thank you.