“China offered to train with them, but none of our athletes accepted.” Interview with Victor Maygurov

President of the Russian Biathlon Union Viktor Maigurov at the end of the first stage of the Commonwealth Cup said that in the future he would take into account the publicity problems of the tournament, spoke of a China’s business proposal and also explained whether there were any obstacles for former Ukrainian national team athletes to participate in Russian competitions.

— The first leg of the Commonwealth Cup is over. Was everyone satisfied?

– If you take it as a whole, then yes. Very satisfied. It turned out to be such a cool organization. I haven’t seen the image on TV, but we get a lot of comments. I think that was good there too. We were satisfied with the public, which was very active, even if it was small, it created an atmosphere.

The main element was the fight on the track. She kept both the fans in the stands and the viewers spellbound. Thank God everything went without injuries: it’s roller skates, summer.

– They say that the publicity was not enough before the start of the tournament, many simply did not know about the competition …

– Perhaps, among the hotels, more emphasis should be placed on distribution, but, on the other hand, everyone who is interested in biathlon knew when and what was going on. We will take into account all wishes and comments.

– You said that the Ministry of Justice should return the charter of the SBR the other day. Has this ever happened?

– I don’t have that information yet. Tomorrow I will return to Moscow, perhaps it has already been sent to the tax office for registration. I think about it the least, I thought more about how to hold the competitions.

– Dinara Alimbekova said yesterday that she had received an offer to change sport citizenship. Do you know if the Russians have received such requests?

– We had offers from China to train with them. But there was no question of a change of nationality. We and the athletes weighed the pros and cons, but decided to train in our country. They offered to organize training camps, you had to spend a lot of time there.

– Did you refuse?

The athletes refused. Such proposals were also in other sports. But, as far as I know, no one accepted them. The suggestions did not correspond to the understanding of our training process.

– And during the preparation for the season, were there options to go abroad for training camps?

– There is no problem with this if you have a Schengen visa – tourists travel.

— Is it relevant for the biathlon team?

– We have a place to train now. Perhaps there are no objects at an altitude of 1800 meters yet, but there is the Seminsky Pass. We are tired of everything else, including the first snow. I think soon everyone will visit us.

– Vitaly Noritsyn’s group wanted to leave, but they were not allowed to.

Where did he want to go? Listen to it for the first time. Who did he ask?

— He said that business trips abroad are not allowed.

– Who else can I contact within the SBR, other than me? (Laughs.) In fact, there is no rush for this. Yes, we used Belmeken (Bulgaria) earlier, it has a good altitude, but we have no problem with that. Look at the Belarusians, they have been training in Raubichi for the whole preparatory season and at the same time showing results.

– The Russian Championship is approaching, where Ekaterina Bekh, Oksana Moskalenko and Olga Abramova are expected to perform. How is the process of obtaining Russian citizenship?

– I do not know. Perhaps the process is underway. I know that Bekh is engaged in the Moscow region, to be honest, I was not interested in everyone. No one at SBR asked us for help. It’s more of a question for the territories they plan to perform for, so before they get citizenship, they’ll probably have to coordinate their performances if necessary.

– Is it necessary to coordinate their performances in Tchaikovsky?

– There is a certain regulation, which is signed by the regional Ministry of Sports. If everything matches the application, we have no bans.