Penza, 5 June 2015. PenzaNews. The Penza region authorities are taking all measures they can to maintain the funding of the Olympic Games 2016 sports training in full, Arthur Panteleev, acting chairman of the regional sports committee, announced during the press conference held on Friday, June 5.

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“One year left until Rio de Janeiro. There are issues, but we are doing everything we can to make the Penza Olympic training program work, and we had no cuts here,” he said.

All coaches and athletes preparing for the Games are getting additional subsidies, he added.

“The candidates for the Olympic games are defined. We received the confirmation from the Russian Sports Minister. 25 are considered, but we all must understand we will be placing the emphasis on about 8-10 out of these people,” the official explained.

The preparations for the games are full-scale, he stressed.

“Our Nastya Zueva [Fesikova] enrolled back into the program at a good pace after childbirth. Sergei Fesikov had a minor shoulder injury, but he looks to be on the track to recovering,” Arthur Panteleev noted, adding that the swimmers will soon have their Olympic programs tested in the Kazan world championship.

As for board diving, he said the region places its trust in Nadezhda Bazhina, Evgeny Kuznetsov and Ilya Zakharov.

“[The thriathletes] Alexander Bryukhankov and Elena Danilova will also go to qualifications, licensing and rating point rampage in Baku [for the 1st European Olympics],” said the Penza sports official.

Answering the question about the future place of residence for the gymnast Denis Ablyazin, Artur Panteleev said the athlete will decide it on his own.

“When the sportsmen will be told to make up their mind, I think Denis will choose where to stay: either in Moscow or in Penza where the conditions are better. And Penza with the Burtasy palace has the best equipment in Russia for gymnasts,” he stressed.