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Greek gymnast Vlasis Maras will pursue another title during the European Championship in gymnastics in Birmingham. The Greek is feverishly preparing for his participation in the championship in which he will compete in a bar. In qualification rounds he will present his program from last year's European Championships in Milan. The degree of difficulty is 6.70, but for the finals is not excluded that it might be increased to 6.90.

Greek delegation leaves for Birmingham on Saturday (17:04). One unpleasant detail, however, caused for the planned opening of the tournament on 21:04 to be postponed by one day. The reason for the change in the program is volcanic ash cloud formed when by the volcanic eruption in Iceland.

In the championship this year will take part athletes from 37 countries, including Bulgaria. The country will be represented by the holder of four Olympic medals Jordan Jovtchev, Eddie Penev, Filip Yanev, Alexander Batinkov and Alexander Markov.

The main opponents of the Greek gymnastics hope this year are the German Habihen and the Slovenian Pegan. Vlasis, however, says he believes in the powers and he is optimistic. The fact that people expect much from him does not disturb him. "I am the winner of a medal and it is normal for people to expect much of me. Although deep inside I have the desire for a gold medal I don’t want this to be stressing me. I will go just to fight as I much as I can without worrying that the result may not appeal to someone. Ultimately, the European Championship is just a preparation for the World championship in October, when our performance at the Olympic Games in 2012 will be decided. Nevertheless, I would really like to win a fifth title by a good performance "- commented on his forthcoming participation in the championship the gymnast.

His first presentation Vlasis Maras makes at the age of 16 years old. For three years he succeeded in winning one bronze and three gold medals from European and world championships. During his further athletic career he has repeatedly glorified the name of Greece. In 2009 the Union of Greek sports journalists declared him the best athlete of the year.

In April 2004 he won the gold medal at the European Championship in Ljubljana. During the Olympic Games in Athens, however, luck was not on his side, and despite of the high marks, he did not qualify for finals.