Valentina Rodionenko Says Ukrainian Illia Kovtun Withdrew From Italy's Serie A Due To His Fear Of Losing To Russia's Artur Dalaloyan

  Ukrainian gymnast Illia Kovtun has recently withdrawn from Italy's Serie A as Russian gymnast Artur Dalaloyan has a contract with Ita...

 

Ukrainian gymnast Illia Kovtun has recently withdrawn from Italy's Serie A as Russian gymnast Artur Dalaloyan has a contract with Italian Gymnastic Romagna Team, will be competing there.

Kovtun's home country has been under vicious Russian military attack since last February.

The club said in a statement that they understand the gymnast's situation and that as a sign of solidarity they will not be replacing him on the parallel bars, Kovtun's strongest apparatus which he dominated at this year's FIG World Cups.

Nevertheless, Russian head coach Valentina Rodioneko stated that Kovtun's real reason for withdrawing is that he fears he will lose to Dalaloyan.

"What can I say, this is the problem of the Ukrainian gymnast, what can be put into their heads that because Artur is present there, he does not want to perform. Because he knows in advance that he will lose, " Rodionenko said according to Google Translate.

While, Dalaloyan said that Kovtun's withdrawal does not make any difference to him 

Russian gymnasts have been banned from taking part in FIG [International Gymnastics Federation] competitions or FIG-sanctioned competitions from 7 March 2022 until further notice in response to Russia's invasion of Ukraine.