Hapoel Tel Aviv - Artistic Gymnastics, training camp london 08

Hapoel Tel Aviv's gymnasts hosted by the prestigious Heathrow club near London England where gymnasts across England train. The most senior gymnast there is Becky Wing, member of the Great Britain Olympic team that took place in Beijing. Also, there were 5 gymnasts at this club that are candidates for the 2012 Olympic team including the 2008 junior Great Britain champion, Nicole Ebert.

Hapoel Tel Aviv team included Roni Rabinovich, Hadas Koren, naama Berenshtien, Sapir Cohen, Yarden Zinder, Noam Winograd, Yoval Samoha, Tal Feingold and Rita Tashpulatov.( Nofar Cohen did not come due to injury). The team traveled with their coaches, Zahava Zissman and Maya Shani.

For most of the girls, that was their first trip to a training camp and a competition as an organized team representing Hapoel Tel Aviv club and Israel. During the week of training, the girls train along with the English gymnasts and they saw how other gymnasts work and all of this is to fulfill their greatest dream- to participate in the Olympic Games.

The hostess organized for the girls to see a London Musical "Never Forget" and a trip to the Queens palace, Windsor Palace.

The main event of the trip was the competition which included 20 different clubs with representative from South Africa, Canada and a special team from Great Britain with gymnasts from the junior team.

There were 97 gymnasts in the competition and it was organized with an up to date computerization system that was fast and easy.

The girls divided into 2 groups, Hapoel Tel Aviv A which included Roni Rabinovich, Hadas Koren, naama Berenshtien, Sapir Cohen and Yarden Zinder, and Hapoel Tel Aviv B which included Noam Winograd, Yoval Samoha, Tal Feingold and Rita Tashpulatov.

For Hapoel Tel Aviv B team, that was their first competition abroad ever and they made a very good impression.

The junior Great Britain team won the competition, Hapoel Tel Aviv A team won second place and the third place went to the South Africa club.

In the all-around competition, the greatest achievement was from Hadas Koren which ranked in 7^th place. Roni Rabinovich ranked 14^th place, naama Berenshtien ranked 22^nd place, Sapir Cohen ranked 27^th place and Yarden Zinder ranked 46^th place.

Roni Rabinovich got to the finals in the vault and did for the first time Yurchenko tuck in a competition and ranked in 8^th place.

Roni Rabinovich and Hadas Koren got to the final in the beam, Hadas ranked in 4^th place and Roni ranked in 7^th place.

Zahava Zissman and Maya Shani summarized the experience as a great success and important for the girls.

The judges and coaches were impressed with the Hapoel Tel Aviv team and everyone said that the Israeli team has a great future ahead.