St. PETERSBURG, May 12, Dmitry Yedigarev. Missed Anton Babikov in the Russian national team to prepare for the next season is the initiative of one of the members of the Russian Biathlon Union (RBU), said the President of the St. Petersburg Biathlon Federation, two-time Olympic champion Dmitry Vasiliev.
On Friday, commentator Dmitry Guberniev said that the world champion Babikov did not get into the Russian national team for centralized training for the next season. As Guberniev noted, «the new vice-president of the RRF has begun to break up the national team.» Earlier, Pavel Rostovtsev, with whom Guberniev has a long-standing conflict, became vice-president of the RBU. The press service of the RRF said that the composition for centralized training will be determined on June 1, and it is too early to talk about Babikov's failure to get into it.
“I suspect that someone in the SBR wants to show his self. I know that several leaders of our team were told that if they did not come to the first training camp, they would be expelled from the national team altogether. There were already rumors that theoretically, Alexander Loginov and Maxim Tsvetkov can be expelled. I don’t know about the rest, but Babikov became the first sign,” said Vasiliev.
Also, the ex-biathlete noted that he is not against changes in the national team.
“I am for order, but in this case it is a radical method, which can lead to the fact that there will be no national team itself, but young athletes. We need to think hard before taking radical measures. But there is another question, Will this decision benefit young people who want to learn from older children,» Vasiliev added.
Babikov is the world biathlon relay champion, winner and prize-winner of the World Cup stages.