Israel Rhythmic Team Captures Another Gold Medal

Israel’s national rhythmic gymnastics team resumed its impressive run this season by grabbing another gold medal on Sunday, taking home the title in the ribbons final at the Thiais Grand Prix in France. 

After starting the gymnastics season right last month by taking home two bronze in the Moscow Rhythmic Gymnastics Grand Prix 2016, the Israeli rhythmic gymnastics team comprised of Alona Koshevatskiy, Karina Lykhvar, Yuval Filo, Ekaterina Levina and Ida Mayrin showed their dominance at the Thiais Grand Prix by finishing with a score of 17.9 in the ribbons event final, successfully surpassing Belarus and Ukraine.

The Israel national gymnastics team finished fifth overall in the all-around competition. The Israeli women successfully grabbed their spot at the Summer Olympics last December after finishing seventh in the individual all-around final of the 2015 World Championships held in Stuttgart, Germany.

Medals are only awarded in the all-around event at the Games.

The national team will participate in the Israel Gymnastics Championships, which will take place at the Malha Arena in Jerusalem. The 32nd European Rhythmic Gymnastics Championships will take place in Holon in June (17th to 19th of June, 2016).

The 2016 edition of the Israel Gymnastics Championships will be the second time that the event will take place in the city of Jerusalem.

Catch the latest news about rhythmic gymnastics by reading our blogs and articles. Experience a world-class rhythmic gymnastics and be trained by a top-class coach, enroll today at Bianka Panova Sport and Art Academy and learn gymnastics with Bianka Panova :)

Irish Gymnasts To Qualify For Olympic Games

Kieran Behan, an artistic gymnast representing Ireland, aims to get past those Disney-script headlines by qualifying once again (2nd time) in the Summer Olympic Games. The Irish gymnast could also be accompanied by an Irish teenager who’s also aiming to reach her own Olympic dreams.

Ellis O’Reilly just turned 18 in February, but similar to Behan, the performances she displayed at the World Championships in Glasgow were impressive enough to win a spot in the Olympic qualification event – a feat that was never done by any female Irish gymnast before. 

The female Irish gymnast from Dartford qualifies for Ireland through her paternal grandparents and is currently balancing her time between her studies and her Olympic dreams.

“When I think of the Olympics I think it’s amazing because only a certain amount of people can get there. I never thought I would be in this position!” the blonde teenager admitted.

“I knew it was possible to qualify, but I didn’t really believe in myself fully. I thought if I could hit good scores at the World Championships that there would be a good possibility, but I just had to concentrate on my performances.”

O’Reilly and Behan need to finish at the top 24 of the Olympic qualification event to be able to qualify for this summer’s Rio Olympic Games.

This is the same exact path that Behan took to be eligible for the 2012 Olympic Games. “I’m confident that I can go there and achieve the qualifying standard.” The Irish gymnast said.

“Ellis has a fantastic opportunity as well,” he added.

“It’s brilliant to have the possibility of two Irish gymnasts competing in an Olympic Games, especially because no woman has ever done it before.”

“Ellis is in the same boat as I was in London. It’s thanks to all the hard work we’ve put in and everyone in Gymnastics Ireland too.”

The 26-year-old gymnast’s journey from being a wheelchair-bound child to a world-class Olympian today was the stuff of a movie-script 4 years ago and his journey to the 2012 Olympics had also been a very popular topic.

Behan, however, felt like he didn’t give his best shot at the previous Olympic games and said: “I feel I have unfinished business so qualifying for Rio would be like a redemption.”

“Getting to London was a massive long-shot for me and a huge learning curve. I didn’t know what to expect and I got myself as ready as I could at that point, but I was injured beforehand.”

“For me now I want to show people we’ve been through that (London) but I can offer this as well, that I still have much more to achieve at the top level,” he said.

“I learned so much about managing my body by preparing for London and competing there. I feel I am a better athlete now and hopefully I can now show that.”

For more gymnastics-related news and articles, you should read our articles posted on our educational blogs. Experience a fun and exciting gymnastics training, enroll today at Bianka Panova Sport and Art Academy and train with a world-class rhythmic gymnastics coach, Bianka Panova! Come and learn gymnastics for kids with us :)

Whitlock and Skinner Took Home Glasgow World Cup Titles

English Artistic gymnast Max Whitlock and U.S. artistic gymnast Mykayla Skinner have become victorious at the recently held Glasgow World Cup last weekend. The victory they achieved in the said competition will give them a leg up on their journey to Rio Olympics. 

MyKayla, a former member of the gold medal winning American team at the 2014 Nanning World Championships and an alternate to the USA team in the 2015 World Championships, performed a clean Amanar Vault to easily get ahead of the competition, taking the lead by more than a point after the first rotation.

Despite not achieving top scores on any other event, she did execute a new floor routine punctuated by her signature difficult tumbling, which involves a Moors (double-twisting double layout), the most challenging routine in the Women’s artistic gymnastics. The score she gained from the Amanar skill was proved impossible to be surpassed by her competitors, earning the American gymnast her first All-around World Cup competition title. 

While Skinner was ahead in position from the beginning, the silver medalist -- German artistic gymnast Elisabeth Seitz started slowly in the vault event, but regained her momentum on the Uneven bars, her best event, achieving the highest score of the day on the said apparatus. Seitz, who secured the 10th place at the all around event of the 2015 World Championships, remained consistent on the beam and floor to catch the silver medal.

Claudia Fragapane, an artistic gymnast competing for Great Britain, posted the highest scores on the beam and floor exercise to achieve the bronze medal. However, she lost the chance to win a shinier medal after committing a mistake on the uneven bars event.

“I feel really pleased overall, first competition of the year with a few improvements to make but happy with where I am at this stage. There’s still more I can add in and work on with a big year ahead so I’ll talk with my coach and continue to train hard. The crowd were brilliant and make it so much fun to compete.” Fragapane stated.

If MyKayla’s 1.2 pts margin of victory was already remarkable, the English artistic gymnast Max Whitlock’s margin of victory was even more impressive. In the men’s competition, Whitlock displayed his dominance after finishing more than two and a half points ahead of the silver medalist Arthur Nory Mariano, which means that Whitlock could’ve made a mistake twice and will still win the competition regardless. Just like MyKayla, the 23-year-old English gymnast set himself in a firm position by earning best marks early in the competition, while also avoiding mishaps in the other events to successfully grab the title. 

"I'm starting to really enjoy competing in Glasgow," said Whitlock, the first-ever male British gymnast to win a gold medal at the World Championships. “My target was to do clean routines across all six pieces in my first Glasgow World Cup so I’m really happy. There’s plenty more competitions coming up quickly now and we all know what’s at stake with Rio the final aim, so to start off this way with World Cup gold is a great feeling.”

British gymnast Daniel Purvis had a hard time in the Pommel event, but he still managed to earn the bronze medal due to his consistent performances on the other events.

Catch the latest news about the sport of gymnastics by reading the articles posted on our educational blogs. Experience gymnastics training in the most exciting way, enroll today at Bianka Panova Sport and Art Academy and train with the world-class rhythmic gymnastics coach, Bianka Panova! Come and learn gymnastics for kids with us :)

Aneheim To Host 2017 P&G Gymnastics Championships

The 2017 P&G Gymnastics Championships will be hosted in Anaheim, California, the first time in 10 years that the Orange County will host a major gymnastics competition.

The said competition will take place on 17th to 20th of August, 2017 at the Honda Center will distinguish the US athletes who will move forward to the 2017 World Championships in Montreal.

“I’m excited because so many people I grew up with never got the chance to watch me compete in person, and this gives them the chance to do that next year,” said an American artistic gymnast and 2012 Olympian Sam Mikulak, who is now training for multiple events in the 2016 Rio Summer Olympics. “I want my friends to be able to appreciate the sport beyond watching me on TV.”

Aside from Mikulak, also present in the announcement, which was held Tuesday at Downtown Disney was the 2004 Olympic all-around gold medalist Carly Patterson, 2012 Olympic team champion Kyla Ross and Romanian gymnastics coach Bela Karolyi.

The competition symbolizes the first major achievement for Sports Anaheim, a new program which is aiming to attract amateur events to the city in hopes of taking advantage of the flourishing sports-event industry.

The initiative was developed by a local visitor and convention marketing group – the Visit Anaheim. The organization will soon bring together an advisory council of local business and sports leaders to work on luring amateur sports tournaments.

The Honda Center and Orange County are not new to the world-class gymnastics.

The Honda Center, which was formerly known as The Arrowhead Pond, accommodated both the 2003 World Artistic Gymnastics Championships and the 2004 U.S. Olympic Trials. The World Championships was one of the most fruitful events for the Team USA as their competitors managed to take home five gold medals, which involves the women’s team title and the men’s individual all-around gold medal, which was won by Pau Hamm.

“I was the most impressed among everybody by this announcement because being in Anaheim brings back great memories of when we were here in 2003,” Karolyi stated. “That moment really started a really great line of winning, putting our athletes on the world scene level. I hope we see the same thing in 2017.”

Six months ago, the USA Gymnastics president Steve Penny talked to the officials of the Honda Center, asking whether the arena could possibly accommodate the event in 2017. Negotiations quickly advanced, basically because both sides were familiar with collaborating, said the President and CEO of Honda Center, Tim Ryan.

“When it comes time to bid on an event of this magnitude, and the relationships are already in place, it just makes everything so much easier,” Ryan said. “We hope the team does really well in Rio, and we can take that momentum straight out of the Olympics and here into Orange County.”

“Nationally, the sports industry generates nearly $9 billion annually – and Anaheim is ripe to cash in on some of that revenue” said Jay Burress, president and CEO of Visit Anaheim.

Prior to visiting Anaheim, Burress headed the visitors and convention bureau in Arlington, Texas, where he helped lure major events such as Super Bowl XLV and the NBA All-Star Game and move the Cotton Bowl Classic to the Dallas Cowboys’ stadium.

“This is a great announcement for us, and there’s more to come in the next couple weeks,” Burress said. “This puts us in a different league, and this is a great sign of the different types of events that we can bring to the city that make a huge impact.”

More news related to gymnastics can be accessed by subscribing to our educational blogs. Learn gymnastics for kids with us! Enroll today at Bianka Panova Sport and Art Academy and experience a fun and exciting way of learning gymnastics :)

Malaysian Rhythmic Gymnasts Secured Five Gold Medals in Elegant Cup Greece

The Malaysian rhythmic gymnastics team has successfully brought great achievement to their country after winning five gold medals at the recently held Elegant Cup in Kalamata, Greece. The Elegant Cup, which is also known as the International Rhythmic Gymnastics Tournament, was held in Kalamata, Greece from 19th to 21st of February, 2016. 

Koi Sie Yan, a gold medallist at the Sea Games 2015, has obtained two gold medals after achieving a score of 14.950 in the individual all-around event and 15.600 in the clubs event. The Malaysian gymnast also won two silver medals in the hoop event, wherein she has garnered a score of 15.050 and in the ribbon event, where she achieved a score of 13.950.

credits: Malaysian Gymnastics Federation

Izzah Azman, a 15-year-old Malaysian gymnasts who have just recently been a part of the senior squad earlier this year proved her worth by winning two gold medals in the ribbon and the hoop event.

The final gold medal was obtained by the junior squad after impressing the judges with their exceptional group exercise performance. The junior team was comprised of Wong Kay Lyn, Nur Irdina Abdul Malek, Koh Jei Yi, Aminul Fares Amira Sofiya and Jessie Liaw Zi Xing. The squad obtained a total of 10.250 points.

National rhythmic coach Yulia Ivanova felt very happy with the team’s performance and their willingness to execute new moves and techniques on their first international outing this year.

“We introduced new techniques and approaches during training, and it was nice to see them apply these changes in their first international tournament, she said as quoted by The Star.

“They executed their routines really well. There were a few mistakes, but we can work on them. It was a good platform for us to evaluate them, so I am quite pleased with that.”

The other Malaysian gymnasts who participated in the competition were Chong Lok Yi, Tammy Ng Jia Wen and Fong Wan Qin.

A young Malaysian gymnast Rayna Hoh Khai Ling also showcased a great performance in the junior competition, winning a silver medal after scoring 14.200 points.

“It was good to see Rayna winning a medal in her international debut. She has much potential,” said Ivanova, who is currently making the seniors ready for a more challenging competition – the World Cup in Finland next month.

Read the latest news about the sport of gymnastics by reading our educational blogs and articles on a regular basis. Enroll today at Bianka Panova Sport and Art Academy to experience a world-class gymnastics training with the world-class rhythmic gymnastics coach, Bianka Panova. Come and learn gymnastics for kids with us! :)