The first stage of the Junior Grand Prix in figure skating is taking place these days in Thailand. Sports from the scene tells about an amazing winter tournament in the country of year-round summer, a skating rink in a shopping center, fried crocodiles near and, of course, Russian people, without whom figure skating is unthinkable.
Bangkok is contrasting and colorful, like the rest of Asia. In Thailand, you immediately notice how great the stratification is between the ultra-poor and the super-rich. If you suddenly find yourself in a market shrouded in the smells of a rotten garbage dump, like a sand tornado, then you are one hundred percent on the poor side. But as soon as you cross the road, you find yourself in the world of skyscrapers, expensive boutiques and the highest achievement of mankind — air conditioners.
, but for locals the amount is decent if you ride every day.
<br />Few things exist at the same time in «poor» and «rich» Bangkok. These include, for example, the ubiquitous web of electrical wires, from which you can’t hide even in luxury areas, as well as expensive cars, which is amazing, given the not the highest incomes of the population. In the same list — the junior stage of the Grand Prix. And this is not only about the poor and the rich, but also about the indivisibility of everyday life and sublimity. Because the Thai Grand Prix is taking place… on one of the floors of an ordinary shopping mall called Imperial World.</p>
<p>You can get to it in two ways — «poor» (by metro) and «rich» (by a special shuttle from the sportsmen's hotel). In the first case, you will feel all the delights of Thai free trade — after passing under the bridge (otherwise in no way), you will stumble upon the very market from the beginning of the text, where you will find a fried crocodile, and a tropical parrot pecking at fish from the stalls, and fruits rotting in the sun, and marsh the colors of uncleanness underfoot, and a spider the size of a fist crawling along the trays. In a word, everything that you probably prefer not to remember. </p>
<p>Further on is a narrow road, where local motorists in their shiny cars rush a centimeter away from you, without even thinking to slow down. Extreme, but if you manage to survive this, then you move from «poverty» to «wealth» — from the street market to the very shopping center, where instead of boiled crickets — civilized sushi, instead of singed brands — real ones, and instead of garbage slurry — white tiles, on which, it seems, even if you walk in white socks, they will remain the same white.The only thing that you will not meet right away is figure skating. He is not there either downstairs, where crocodiles are fried, and here, where they cook something more decent. There are no advertisements, no signs of where to go for fans of figure skating, as well as queues for tickets for rentals. This is how, for example, the hall of the nominally «ice arena» looks like.</p>
<p>And this is how its corridors look.</p>
<p>By the way, if suddenly you are a skater and you forgot your costume for a performance, it doesn’t matter — you can buy a replacement right on the way to the ice.</p>
<p><img decoding=)
And we walk with them. But before you open the door to the ice, a small detail — the use of marijuana is legal in Thailand, so much so that special shops with colorful signs can be found everywhere. So, in the parking lot in front of the entrance, the correspondent had the opportunity to feel the powerful «smell of freedom.» And no, it's not illegal, we just hope that none of the athletes fail the doping test because of this.
But what views open from this parking lot — just look.
What about inside the arena? Yes, really nothing remarkable. The skating rink is small, but quite decent, no worse than similar ones, say, in Germany or Hungary. Employees with the inherent kindness of Thais try to help everyone and everything. The stands are full — and it doesn't matter that the faces (and flags) are suspiciously familiar, and in a small museum in the corner of the ice rink, we even managed to find a «Russian trace» — a souvenir from the 2018 European Championship in Moscow. Yes, and in principle, the Russians do not shy away from here. Rather, on the contrary.And that's not to mention speakers with Russian roots and other connections with Russia. Because okay Marina Zueva (her student Hannah Dabis from Egypt is 30th after the short program), okay Oleg Makarov and Larisa Selezneva (they brought the American Jacob Sanchez to the stage), but it was quite surprising to find a Russian-speaking father in the Vietnamese Han Di Li.
src=»/wp-content/uploads/2023/08/d5e396e1c9e3302aa7db3788915804a5.jpg» />
br>
By the way, we met on the «rich» way to the skating rink. It differs from the «poor» one by the presence of a comfortable bus and a «cleaner» route. There are no markets around, no ruined shacks — only luxury and luxury. It's like being in another city.
Probably, many readers in the course of reading more than once wondered why it is needed at all? «Tournament in the mall? It's good that we don't participate in this circus!» But I would like to urge the radical public to restrain their ardor. Because, firstly, such precedents have already been. In 2019, Kamila Valieva made her debut at international competitions in the Courchevel shopping center, and Anna Shcherbakova first entered the adult world level in the same year at a similar skating rink in a shopping center in Las Vegas. And nothing, no one died.Secondly, international competitions are first of all impressions and experience. Well, where else can you see all these Thai markets, skyscrapers and old Buddhist temples? Where will you feel what it's like to perform on the other side of the world? The Russian competitions are, of course, extremely important, and the FFKKR shows organizational miracles, keeping the domestic season for the second year in a row. But still, it is important for an athlete to learn not to fall into a panic state from performing in another country as early as childhood. And this is right here. Even in the mall.
br>
So we need each other to the same extent — and they with their small-town, maybe, level, and we with our records. And world figure skating should again absorb our two worlds, just like the Imperial World with its environs. Because in the short program of women's single skating in Bangkok, the best result is 67 with a little points. While Sofya Akatieva, Adelia Petrosyan (formally still able to compete in juniors) and conditional Margarita Bazylyuk can gain 80, as they say, inevitably.
We can only hope for the ISU council in October. Perhaps, following its results, we will again become a single curly family.