Penza, 29 March 2016. PenzaNews. Denis Ablyazin and Aliya Mustafina of the Penza region have been included in the Russian national artistic gymnastic team for the 2016 Summer Olympics in Rio de Janeiro that will take place on August 5-21, Valery Starkin, President of the Penza region Federation of Artistic and Rhythmic Gymnastics, told PenzaNews.

© PenzaNewsBuy the photo

The national men’s and women’s teams will feature a total of five athletes each, he said.

“The four candidates in the men’s and the women’s teams are already confirmed. Natalya Kapitonova is possibly the fifth member in the women’s team,” Valery Starkin explained.

During the session of the Penza region Sports Ministry Board, Vladimir Zhuchkov, first assistant head of the ministry, announced that the region has 25 candidates for the 2016 Summer Olympics, including 13 athletes with serious commitment to the task.

The list of aforementioned candidates includes four swimmers (Anastasia Fesikova, Sergei Fesikov, Maria Astashkina, Victoria Andreeva), four platform divers (Ilya Zakharov, Evgeny Kuznetsov, Nadezhda Bazhina), and three gymnasts (Denis Ablyazin, Aliya Mustafina, Natalya Kapitonova), as well as women gymnast Anastasiya Bliznyuk, triathlete Alexandra Bryukhankova and weightlifter Nadezhda Yevstyukhina. Also, 11 of the Penza athletes already participated in the Olympics, 8 of them with medals.