Flash quotes:

Jasur Matchanov, Uzbekistan Olympic Committee General Secretary:

"FINA World Artistic Swimming Series has come to Uzbekistan for the final leg again, and we are very very happy about it. The second year to go we have been chosen to close the circuit, so I may assume, it is already a sort of tradition to celebrate the finish here.

Some 70 elite artistic swimmers, representing 6 nations, are already in place hot ready to vie for the 10 sets of medals. We are very grateful to FINA Family for this opportunity and sincerely hope for fruitful collaboration in the future. For us it is an honor and at the same time a responsibility to make good use of the possibilities arising from here. I mean, educating local artistic swimmers community, raising our top athlete’s level and having them as a part of the competitions".

Lisa Schot, FINA Technical Delegate and FINA Technical Artistic Swimming Committee member:

"This is the in the principal mission of the FINA Artistic Swimming World Series to spread the knowledge and profile of the sport around the globe. This is what we have been doing for the 2nd year to go bringing the concept of the FINA Artistic Swimming World Series to practice.

Our schedule this year has been very tough. We got it launched in March in Paris, and visited another 8 cities during 4 months, including Beijing, Tokyo, Samorin, Budapest, Madrid, Surrey, Los Angeles, Syros Islands in Greece. Finally, we have come to the Middle Asia, and we expect that the competitions will be very exciting. Competitors, their coaches and all the staff, have been doing a great job, and they have worked very very hard to achieve good results, and very soon they will have the fruits, I mean distribution of the prize money".

Sharifjon Mumidzhonov, Uzbekistan’s Deputy Minister of Sport and Physical Culture:

"Tashkent is well ready to host the tournament. It is very important for us that all our guests should be happy with the facilities and the level of services they receive on the hospitable land of Uzbekistan. We will do our best so that everyone preserves pleasant reminiscences from our country. Our spectators and fans are very agitated, looking forward to see the world’s elite artistic swimmers in action".

TEAM TECHNICAL

 

Competition program got it launched as Uzbekistan and Slovakia swam their Team Technical routines. Uzbekistan presented to the world their 2-parts program, marrying “Caravan” by Duke Ellington and “Taxi” soundtracks. The mix turned to be very a success and very much gruntling. Swimming at home, girls were very emotional, too, and their eventual gold was relegated as a blessing, 75.9284.

“We are overwhelmed with the emotions from the win. We say, that at home even the walls held, and this is very right indeed, - shared Anastasiya Ruzmetova excitedly. – We have managed to improve on the total by 2 points, comparing to our first international night in Greece. We love the music, we love the spirit and we love artistic swimming! This win is a great motivation for us for the future and we believe, that via such wins we will be able to promote our lovely sport here in Uzbekistan”.

Slovakia landed silver, performing to a highly energetic Michael Jackson’s remix music. There must be something, that went wrong before or during the competition, and they shall figure it out soon and resolve before the World Junior Championships-2018 in July. Swimmers looked tired, missed accuracy and synchronization, and were able to register the lowest total out of the 6 meets they had this season, 72,5023 points (with 21.9000 points on the artistic impression, 22.1000 on the execution and 28.5023 on the elements).

“It started to look better from the second half of the routine, - noted Slovakia head coach Gabor Szauder on his team's performance. - Probably, we would have needed a harder warm-up to start with more heat and energy. From the third required element on it was quite ok. My team is all juniors, but I don’t think they should be worried or felt uncomfortable presenting the program to the public. This is their 6th Leg of the FINA Artistic Swimming World Series this year, and they just need to be better focused. May be in this age it is not that easy”.

Summary of the season:

Ukraine was the most celebrated team of the year, as in the Women Team Technical only they got 5 pieces, 2-2-1. Russia’s winning ambitions stretched out to 2 titles and the season-high score of 93.6476 points, earned on the inaugural stop in Paris. One more fact to be highlighted is the geography of the medal holders, registering 15 nations travelling to the podium in course of the season.

DUET TECHNICAL

Photo: credit to SLAVA TVE

Olympic finalists Nuria Lindón Diosdado García/Karen Faride Achach Ramírez won their first medal of the day convincingly, by a large margin. Mexican pair scored 83.8356 points on their powerful routine to match the character of the James Horner’s “Becoming one of the people”. Their aim was to accentuate their greatest strengths – height and synchronization. According to the duo, they did it right and deservedly win, showing some good prospects for the Central American Games-2018.

“We gave it all to the swim, and we are happy to win, - said Nuria Lindón Diosdado García of Mexico. – It was no way easy, because we had to adapt to new facilities, which by the way are great, and to the time difference. It took us 24 hours to come to Tashkent. Comparing to the our gold-winning swim in Syros Islands, we managed to improve by a mere fractions, but this only shows we are on the right road and have to work harder on now to be better competitive for the next competitions”.

Kazakhstan juniors Jennifer Russanova and Yana Degtyareva presented a beautifully choreographed “Bumblebee” program. There is a certain air, which distinguish programs by the Russian many-times Olympic champion Anastasiya Ermakova. They are not only difficult to perform, they are elegant. The choice of music was also done by the master – an original piano version by Denis Matsuev. So now she must be proud of her Kazakh prodigies. They pocketed silver, 76.4281, narrowly edging out their German opponents, 76.3017.

“Our opponents were strong, and it was not easy to earn silver, - commented on her duet’s performance Kazakhstan coach Anna Kameneva. – We had some mistakes, but generally speaking, the performance was pretty well done. By the end of the composition, my swimmers looked tired, which was the main reason for them to have some problems with synchronization. However, we are happy on the medal, we have managed to improve our personal best and we enjoyed swimming today in Tashkent”.

“The swim was not bad, it was better than we did in March, and this is our first medal in 2018 ASWS season, - coach Doris Ramadan commented on Marlene Bojer and Daniela Reinhardt of Germany performing to the “Fanatico” themed contemporary framed piece of violin. – They had some problems with the pool coverage, so we will work on that during the next month before the European Artistic Swimming Championships in Glasgow”.

Uzbekistan’s Anna Eltisheva/Anastasiya Morozova finished fourth, 76.6091, Diana Miskechova/Nada Dabousova of Slovakia – fifth, 73.5983, to close the competition.

Summary of the season:

Jiang sisters of China turned out to be the most successful duo in the Women Technical Duet this year, winning 2 gold (in Beijing and in Surrey) and 1 silver (in Paris). Ukranian Savchuk/Yakhno and Italian Cerruti/Ferro registered 1 title and 2 runner-up positions each, whereas the season-high came on Leg#1 in Paris, where Russian Kolesnichenko/Subbotina posted 94.6415.

MIXED DUETS TECHNICAL

Photo: credit to SLAVA TVE

In the absence of the outspoken favorites Giorgio Minisini/Manila Flamini of Italy, the gold in the Mixed Duet Technical was between Asia and Asia. Kazakhstan’s Olzhas Makhanbetyarov and Kseniya Lyakh competed against the home-crowd favorite Diana Ibragimova/Vyechaslav Rudnev. Hosts have never been on tour before, and learned they were a duo but a month ago. As for the guests, it is their third appearance in the circuit. Grabbing silver on their first trip to Madrid, Olzhas Makhanbetyarov and Kseniya Lyakh stood pretty far to the main force. In other words, chances were more or less equal to add to the competition.

A melodious and intimate Ukraine language song by “Ocean of Elza” was the musical choice of the hosts, and their goal was to express the various stages of relationships between a man and a woman. Their opponents showcased a diametrically opposite spirit, highlighted by a rhythmic rap masterpiece. “Mahabbah” by TROPKILLAZ was a quality new school music combining the “old style”. Addressed the youth, it touched everyone, and was a good aide to the swimmers, which visibly enjoyed their swim. In the competition of skills and emotions, Kazakhstan won the rivalry, but their dominance was not overwhelming – 69,1749 against 68,8465.

“It was a good swim, and I have already congratulated my mixed duet on the win, - said Aynur Kerey-Baymakhanova of Kazakhstan, - We have been learning and excelling all the time, comparing to Greece we have managed to improve by 8 points. We will proceed working hard to earn medals”.

“We received a good feedback in general and some very good feelings, - said Dinara Ibragimova of Uzbekistan. – This is our first international medal and at the same time this our international premiere, and we are very very happy about it. But now we can not give the way to our emotions as we shall keep them safe to the next swim in the free portion”.

Summary of the season: 

Italian Giorgio Minisini and Manila Flamini set pace wherever they were in the contest, winning 4 out of 4 titles on offer (in Paris, Tokyo, Surrey and Syros Isands). Their absence gave room for the other duos to exhibit, picturing 3 different nations on top, including Spain, China and Korea, however their season-best score was not possible to beat. They set it as long as this March in Paris at the inaugural leg of the event on 88.5930.

FINA Artistic Swimming World Series in Tashkent, staged until July, 1, will proceed tomorrow on 30 June, 2018, with 4 more medals sets on offer - in the Team Highlights, Solo Technical, Team Free and Mixed Duet Free routines.

Photo: credit to SLAVA TVE

 

Competition results. FINA Artistic Swimming World Series 2018. Leg 10.

Day 1 June, 28

Team Technical

1. UZBEKISTAN (Eltisheva Anna, Khakimova Khurshida, Morozova Anastasiya, Onkez Diana, Ruzmetova Anastasiya, Thoshkhudjaeva Khonzodakhon, Tulkinova Mokhorakhon, Yuldasheva Gulsanam, Salieva Alina - R, Shomakhsudova Nigora - R) 75.9284

2. SLOVAKIA (Bacharova Julia, Bodikova Zuzana, Iakovlev Anastasia, Kvasnovska Kristina, Lisa Laura, Novotna Barbora, Slezakova Rebecca, Suranova Sophia, Miskechova Diana, Daabousova Nada) 72.5023

Duets Technical

1. Achach Ramirez Karen Faride/Diosdado GARCIA Nuria Lindon (MEX) 83.8356

2. Russanova Jennifer/Degtyareva Yana (KAZ) 76.4281

3. Bojer Mariene/Reinhardt Daniela (GER) 76.3017

4. Morozova Anastasiya/Eltisheva Anna (UZB) 75.6091

5. Daabousova Nada/Miskechova Diana (SVK) 73.5983

6. Shaxbozova Moxidil/Bozorova Begoyim (Andijan, UZB) 53.7314

7. Djunaeva Shirin/Fayzieva Sabina (Buchara, UZB) 52.1807

Mixed Duets Technical

1. Lyakh Sofiya/Makhanbetyarov Olzhas (KAZ) 69.1749

2. Ibragimova Dinara/Rudnev Vyatcheslav (UZB) 68.8465