MOSCOW, May 18. /TASS/. A decision of the European Union of Gymnastics (UEG) to award Russia hosting the European Championships in Trampoline next year was not surprising as the country had already offered to host this tournament in 2021, Nikolai Makarov, the head of the Russian Trampoline Federation, told TASS on Monday.

The European Union of Gymnastics announced in a statement earlier in the day that Russia’s southern resort city of Sochi would host next year the postponed 2020 European Championships in Trampoline.

The championship was initially scheduled to run between April 29 and May 2 in Sweden’s Gothenburg, but was postponed earlier in the year due to the ongoing global spread of the novel coronavirus.

"Due to the current stance of the World Anti-Doping Agency [WADA] it is relatively hard for Russia to receive the right for hosting any international sports tournament, therefore all tournaments of such level are very important for us now," Makarov said in an interview with TASS.

"The European Championship [in Trampoline] was scheduled to be held in Sweden this year, but was eventually postponed," he continued. "The Swedes decided against its organization next year and we were really happy to take it [the championship]."

"We have ben earlier planning to vie for hosting the European Championship in Russia in 2021, therefore almost everything went according to our plans," Makarov added.

The UEG said in a statement earlier in the day: "A new date and location have been found for the cancelled 2020 European Championships in Trampoline, Tumbling and Double Mini-Trampoline" adding that "The event will now take place in Sochi (RUS) from 29 April to 2 May 2021."

This will be Russia’s third time hosting the European Championships in Trampoline as the country’s second largest city of Saint Petersburg previously hosted the tournament twice (in 2002 and 2012).  At the previous European Trampoline Championship in Azerbaijan’s Baku, the Russian team finished second in the overall medals standings having packed one gold and one silver medals. The European Trampoline Championships is a biennial tournament, which has been organized by the European Union of Gymnastics since 1969.

On March 11, 2020, the WHO declared the coronavirus outbreak a pandemic. According to the latest statistics, over 4,827,000 people have been infected worldwide and more than 317,000 deaths have been reported. In addition, so far, over 1,868,000 individuals have recovered from the illness across the globe.

To date, a total of 290,678 coronavirus cases have been confirmed in Russia, with 70,209 patients having recovered from the virus. Russia’s latest data indicates 2,722 fatalities nationwide. Earlier, the Russian government set up an Internet hotline to keep the public updated on the coronavirus situation.