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For now, that’s all Octavian Belu has to say about the upcoming World Championships. "No one can tell what will happen at these World Championships. In my opinion, there are no clear favorites in the individual competition, nor in the team event. It will be a bizarre competition, due to all the new rules being introduced, but mostly because of the new COP," said Belu.
The Romanian team that will compete in Gent from Oct 27-Nov 4 consists of 7 gymnasts Andreea Raducan, Loredana Boboc, Sabina Cojocar, Silvia Stroescu, Carmen Ionescu, Monica Sabau and Andreea Ulmeanu. "Only 7 gymnasts who train at Deva are age eligible for Worlds. All of them will go to Gent, but only 6 of them will start the team competition,” explained Belu. Only 5 of the 6 gymnasts will compete on every event and the top 4 scores will count towards the team total [in the prelims]. For the first time ever at Worlds, 8 teams will qualify for team finals, instead of 6 as before.
Octavian Belu said his team does not have any definite
goals for the competition. "We don’t have any set goals. After 4 World titles,
we’ll try to stay on top. It is important to note that 80% of our team has
changed [since the Olympics]. Everything will depend on the young gymnasts’
ability to replace the ones who left the team."
The Romanian delegation will leave for Belgium on October 23rd.