Chinese biathletes of the Liaoning club are preparing tickets to Russia to participate in a commercial tournament in Khanty-Mansiysk in November, the management has approved the trip, team coach Andrei Prokunin told .
Prokounin is a Russian coach who previously worked for teams in South Korea and Ukraine. Since 2022, the specialist has coached Liaoning, the base club of the Chinese national team.
On Tuesday, commentator Dmitry Guberniev said that a commercial biathlon tournament could be held a week before the Alfa-Bank Russian Cup, the first stage of which will begin on November 23 in Khanty-Mansiysk. The prize pool of the new tournament could amount to 8 million rubles.
— My club “Liaoning” in Shenyang plans to participate in these competitions. In the middle of summer, we discussed with Alexey Viktorovich (Nuzdov) about the possibility of my team participating in this tournament. I think this tournament is a good prospect for all parties. Athletes can progress and show good results. There are almost no national competitions in China, it’s hard to tell based on our participation in the IBU Cup: 50/50, so this tournament fits well into our calendar. We have a very weak legacy from the Beijing Olympics: there is only one operational shooting range in the entire country. Besides, this is not where the Games took place. In Zhangjiakou, everything was dismantled. Well, there are also problems with snow, because only in December can the training process be ensured.
We plan to bring seven people: three girls including a junior, as well as three men and a junior. We are now working on the starting documents. I hope everything grows together and everything goes well. I don’t see any reason why this could be different, only if there is force majeure related to visas or passports. There is a solution, management has approved the trip. Perhaps a second club will also participate, but that is no longer my area of responsibility.
— What do the leaders of the Chinese Biathlon Federation think of such a trip?
“We are guided by the interests of the team, but we need snow, we need a good skating experience with a high-quality shooting range and conditions. The Federation in this story acts only as a consultative link – there were no problems and I hope they will not appear before departure,” Prokounin told .
Russian and Belarusian biathletes have been suspended from competitions under the auspices of the International Biathlon Union (IBU).
Source : MatchTV
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