Plushenko's son suddenly changed his sports citizenship — he is no longer in Russia

The son of two-time Olympic champion in single skating Evgeni Plushenko Alexander changed his sports citizenship. The famous Gnome Gnomych will compete in sports competitions for Azerbaijan, RIA Novosti reports citing an informed source.

The publication notes that for juniors, our men's single skating has been in the top for a long time. Even now, after years of suspension from major competitions, the entry of our singles players into the international arena will be at least noticeable.

At the same time, Sasha Plushenko's growth in sports terms is not rapid.

"He is a diligent athlete of a good level, but while at his age the guys in our country are already jumping two fours and preparing to storm new ones, Sasha is only timidly looking at difficult jumps and is limited to stabilizing the triples," explains the author of the publication.

There are not one or two or even five advanced singles athletes in Russia, but much more. In these conditions, Sasha simply had no place, at this stage it is not leadership within the country. There are stronger guys in his age group. That's probably why he thought about the transition.

It is emphasized that this is not a loss for Russian sports, our country will only benefit.

"Sasha Plushenko will turn from an interesting but not very promising single player for Russia into a bridge between our country and Azerbaijan, which is quite influential in figure skating, for at least a couple of Olympic cycles," the publication also says.

The young athlete himself confirmed his transfer to the number of Azerbaijani athletes.

"I was and still am a Russian. I was given sports citizenship of Azerbaijan for five years. I hope that in the international arena I will be able to adequately represent our two countries and glorify my dad's academy," the former Gnome Gnomych told the SE portal.

Sasha Plushenko's social media page published a post about training with the national team of Azerbaijan in early May.

"I was glad to ride with the national team of Azerbaijan. To get acquainted with the Minister of Youth and Sports of Azerbaijan - Farid Gaibov. Thanks to Emin for the warm welcome. I would also like to thank the Secretary General of the Azerbaijan Winter Sports Federation Gunel Bagdalova for her attention and friendship. See you soon, Azerbaijan," he wrote.

Alexander Plushenko is the son of Yevgeny Plushenko and producer Yana Rudkovskaya. In January of this year he turned 13 years old.