Russians coming

By Shaun Inguanzo
GOLD medal dreams for Russia’s FINA World Championships swimming team will be had on the plush pillows of Dandenong’s Ramada Encore Hotel.
The Star can reveal that the swish hotel in McCrae Street, Dandenong, will host a 41-person team comprising 33 world-class athletes, two doctors and six coaches for two weeks from 10 March.
The elite athletes are relying on the Ramada for their all-important sleep and special dietary requirements before taking on the world’s best swimmers at Melbourne’s Rod Laver Arena.
The Russians will train at the Doveton Pool in the Park which the team requested for its open-air style pool.
Among the names staying in Dandenong are Roman Sludnov, the first person in the world to swim 100m breaststroke in less than a minute, champion backstroker Arkady Vyatchanin who is ranked the third fastest 100m backstroker in the world this year, and Nikolai Skvortsov who holds the fourth fastest 100m butterfly of all time.
Ramada Encore senior sales manager Nicole Ellen said the Russian team’s stay was a coup for the hotel and for Dandenong.
Ms Ellen said the team’s choice to stay in Dandenong would paint a positive picture of the city.
“It will give Dandenong a more deserving reputation considering the bad stigma the city has had,” she said.
Up to 25 rooms will accommodate the athletes, Ms Ellen said, and the breakfast, lunch and dinner menus have been specially designed to cater for their dietary needs.
But the Russian swimming team is not the only elite sporting unit to have sought slumber at the Ramada.
Ms Ellen said other athletes included the Beijing basketball team, which attracts a television audience of three million people in China, Korean basketball teams, and the Argentinian men’s volleyball team.
In addition, celebrity acts performing at The Drum Theatre on Lonsdale and Walker Streets often stay at the hotel.
The FINA World Championships is held every four years and comprises five disciplines including swimming, open water swimming, water polo, diving and synchronised swimming.
More than 158 nations will be represented in Melbourne this month, a record number of entries for the event.