Ilias Khusnutdinov: One mistake and i tumbled to the 8th place

Russian competitor Ilias Khusnutdinov shared his impressions after finishing 8th in the men's taolu Daoshu event.

– I didn't perform as I would like to. I've made a mistake, and I tumbled to the 8th place. This in no way can excuse me. Of course I will proceed further. I have one more event to perform at, and I need to do it flawlessly. I will perform with a weapon, a cudgel.

– What went wrong today?

– It was pretty much an element of chance that let me down. It never came up during the trainings, but it showed up today. I have no idea how to explain it. I might have overdone it before the last jump. I landed lower than I should have, as a result the sword touched the floor. The judges deducted 0.1 points. The same result, if there would have been no mistake, has a bronze medallist.

– What expectations did you have before the championships?

– I hoped to perform well and flawlessly. Wanted to show my maximum. This was my task; the rest is up to the judges.

– What do they evaluate first and foremost?

– There are plenty subtleties and peculiarities. Above all, they evaluate performance of the techniques, secondly, they appraise the execution and degree of difficulty of jumps and landings, as they should be clean, smooth and firm. No third part of body can touch the floor. And in the end, it's the overall impression. It features spirit, speed, and weapon rotation speed. You can perform technically good with no mistakes, but you may lack the speed. At the highest level, you need to demonstrate clean jumps, good striking execution, and fast speed. After all, it's martial arts and not a dance. You must hit hard.

– How do you prepare for the tournaments and keep yourself concentrated?

– A good warm-up is a key to a good performance. Today I had an early warm-up, I felt confident and calm. I executed the routine well but overdid it by the end and touched the floor, which resulted the final outcome. I hope the next time everything will go well. We will compete for the team title, there are lots of events ahead. If I fail, there are other competitors to strike back.

– Is it possible to compete with Chinese at wushu?

– It is. They are humans like us – with two legs and two hands. Their main advantage is a severe competition they go through, as it is a very popular sport in China. Here coaches select one athlete out of ten, in China these chances are one in a hundred. It's another thing. They have the best athletes training there in a very competitive environment. Our team is also strong, but it would develop in leaps and bounds once you put them among the best in China. After all, China is a country of wushu. They take a lead in table tennis, diving, etc. But we will try to outdo them.