Georgian diving team competed in category A international tournament which was held in the capital of Ukraine, Kiev. Duet of Chota Chanturia and Shota Korakhashvili took the 3rd place with 371 points in synchronized diving from a 3-meter trampoline.
Irakli Bartaia, general secretary of Georgian Water Sports Federation, told "World Sport" about it.
According to him, sportsmen from 12 countries participated in the tournament. Ukrainian team which is current European champion and bronze medal winner of Beijing Olympiad took the 1st place. The second Ukrainian team which is champion of European Youth Championship 2007 took the 2nd place.
It is worth mentioning, that there was a great competition among men who competed in jumping from a 3-meter trampoline. Georgian sportsmen had a difficult program. 37 sportsmen participated in the tournament. 9 international sport masters and 5 honoured masters of sport were among them. Chola Chanturia took the 6th place with 387 points. Chanturia showed the best result of year.
As for Korakhashvili, he took the 8th place with 360 points. He collected the most 354 points during last two years. He showed his best result and finished this year successfully.
Unfortunately, Salome Jugeli, the third member of the team, did nothing special. She collected 178 points and took the 17th place among 30 sportswomen. Her illness is named as a reason of her unsuccessful competition. But it must be mentioned that she did a new program well. It was her first important tournament and psychological factor played a negative role.
"If we consider the preparation period from September till December, this tournament showed that this year was productive and successful. Ukrainian coach Mikheil Ugriumov and Belarusian coach Sergey Lomanovsky estimated Georgians' competition well. They saw that Georgia has good sportsmen and these young sportsmen will achieve success. Next year, on March 5, Korakhashvili and Chanturia will participate in European Championship which will be held in Italy. Before that, they will compete in Grand Prix in Madrid on February 14-21. They both must be on good form" - added Bartaia.



Maka Toidze