The striker of the Russian national team and CSKA spoke about the emotions from the opening ceremony of the Olympics in Beijing and commented on the decision of the KHL to resume the tournament.
- Anton, what emotions did you have from the opening ceremony of the Olympics?
- Emotions run high. It was my first time at the Olympics and the first time I got to the opening. We asked here the guys who are not the first time at the Games, and they did not manage to get to the opening ceremony. So I was lucky, we were happy. It happened although the whole procedure took several hours due to Covid and the multitudes of people. Great, how is that for, they were emotions for life.
- Did your first Olympics surprise you in any way?
- China is an interesting country, slightly different from ours. I can’t say that something surprised me, I’m just happy to be here and every day something new happens here.
- How are you in Beijing?
- It is difficult to comment, nutrition, of course, leaves much to be desired for the preparation of athletes. I think it should be of better quality. We expected worse conditions. Here is an accessible Olympic village, you can go outside. And there is a dining room, which you enter in a mask and with all security measures. Dressing rooms, training sessions, transfers - everything is going great, there are no complaints.
- The day before, you were supposed to play a test match with Latvia team, but due to the coronavirus, the meeting was canceled.
- Of course, we all wanted to play with Latvia team and feel at least some kind of official match and the quality of the game. But due to Covid, it didn’t work out. We did a double sided. The main thing is that everyone felt the rhythm of the game.
- Do you follow CSKA trainings?
- Of course, we here in CSKA communicate with our guys who train in Russia. We follow the social networks of the club and see that the guys are preparing and keeping themselves in shape, everyone is in a good frame of mind.
- How did you react to the news that the regular season is over and CSKA is entering the playoffs against “Lokomotiv”?
- We support the decision of the KHL. We would like the season to continue in favor of the fans and those guys who did not make it to the playoffs continue the season. It’s a little embarrassing for them. And if we talk about our rival “Lokomotiv”, then we understand what kind of team it is, what kind of people are there, we understand what kind of coaching staff it is. It will be more interesting for CSKA to hold such a battle. This is the most interesting pair of the first round of the playoffs.
