Figure skater Akopova told about an unsuccessful attempt to change citizenship

Russian figure skater Karina Akopova in an interview with , she said that the Russian Figure Skating Federation (FFKKR) did not approve of her transfer to the Australian team.

– It so happened that I skated alone for six months: they did not find a partner in any way. Ekaterina Alexandrovskaya and Harley Windsor trained with us in the group. Their coach Andrei Pashin said there is now a boy in Australia who is also looking for a partner. Hector Giotopoulos Moore came to Moscow to audition for another girl, but soon we were paired up, and somehow everything worked out right away. We trained for a month at the Moser school, then flew to Australia to negotiate my transfer to the national team.

We worked there for three months, setting up programs. According to the rules, we had to present a finished short program in order to obtain the junior stage of the Grand Prix.

This whole story cost my family dearly: my mother and grandmother paid for tickets, visas, accommodation and meals. A total of 200,000, and my mother even had to take out a loan for a return ticket. When I flew to Russia, during the transfer, I received a message from my mother: the federation did not approve my transfer. In other words, I can’t skate for Australia. All was in vain. Such an attempt with a sad end.

Then the Junior World Championship just took place, and Katya and Harley won there. Plus, they beat a strong Russian couple who took the win. After that, the leadership of the federation decided that they will not send any more Russian athletes to Australia, especially the guys from Nina Mikhailovna’s group, Akopova said in an interview with .

Last season, Akopova, together with Nikita Rakhmanin, won first place in the sports competition in pairs at the Budapest Trophy and Challenge Cup tournaments.