Building a team for Rio. *Romania Gymnastics*

In his most recent interview for the Ring newspaper,
the Romanian head coach Octavian Bellu spoke about the return of Catalina Ponor and Sandra Izbasa, and the
upcoming European Championship.
As Catalina Ponor told us that she will be training in
the gym soon. Octavina Bellu said that him and
Mariana Bitang were in touch with Catalina during
her vacation in Puerto Rico, as the 28 years old
gymnast often sent them videos of her progress in
training.
“She used to send us videos of her training in Puerto Rico.
Then she told us that she will be back in the team starting
from 20th of March, hence we were happy to welcome her."
said Bellu.
"Anyways, even if she was returning earlier, she still
wouldn’t make the Europeans or Worlds team. Usually, the
recovery period is somewhere between 6 and 8 months or
even more. The last time she came back, before the London
Olympics, it took 10 months.”
Bellu stated that the Romanian gymnasts have a good chance
of winning medals at nest month's European championships,
but the major goal for now is building a team for Rio
Olympics.
“The list we sent to the F.I.G. can be changed. We have a
chance to win medals, but it won’t be easy, even when China
and U.S.A aren't competing, two of our main rivals. Our
major goal is building a team for the Rio Olympics”
Beside Ponor, another Olympic champion is working on a
comeback. Sandra Izbasa already started her training, but no
one knows for sure when she will join the national team.
“Sandra is doing light training in Lia Manoliu complex, the
hall where the male gymnasts are training in. For the moment,
she only does physical training because it’s a long way until
we can talk about the technical training. It’s too early to tell
when will she be competition ready.”