Famous Russian rower Pavel Eigel will now defend the honor of Uzbekistan

Pavel Eigel, one of the leading athletes of the Russian national canoe slalom team, has changed his sports citizenship and joined the Uzbek national team. This was reported by the Russian TASS news agency.

Pavel Eigel cited the possibility of showing decent results in international competitions as the main reason for his decision.

"I decided to join the Uzbek national team because I still consider myself an athlete capable of showing good results in high-level international tournaments," said the 35-year-old Eigel.

At the same time, he stressed that he does not feel like an old athlete.

"The Russian national team is currently pursuing a policy of artificially rejuvenating the squad. Although I was selected as the number one athlete of the national team last year, they said that I would have to spend only my own money to participate in centralized training camps, and I was transferred to the reserve team," Eigel explained.

The rower said that he tried to resolve the situation by communicating with the federation and coaches, but these meetings did not yield any results.

It is worth noting that Pavel Eigel won a bronze medal at the 2018 World Championships. Now he has announced that he will defend the honor of Uzbekistan at the 2028 Los Angeles Olympics and fight for Olympic medals.

It is worth noting that after Russia launched a large-scale attack on Ukraine in February 2022, many sports federations excluded Russian athletes from international competitions. This forced many Russian athletes to switch to national teams of other countries.

Now, another experienced and high-level athlete has appeared in the Uzbek national team, who will compete for medals in international arenas. Read 'Zamin' on Telegram!