PROGRAMME COMPLETE

One of the most popular forms of sport included in the programme of the First European Games is gymnastics. Azerbaijan is represented in all six types of gymnastics competitions in the "Baku-2015" programme. Of them three are relatively new ones for Azerbaijan, since they only started to be developed two years ago. The vice-president of Azerbaijan's Gymnastics Federation, Altay Hasanov, talked to Regionplus about the Federation's expectations of the First European Games.

- What did you think of the performances of the Azerbaijani gymnasts at the most recent competitions?

- When the Gymnastics Federation was set up in 2002, its activity included three types of gymnastics - artistic gymnastics, men's rhythmic gymnastics and acrobatic gymnastics. The inclusion of women's rhythmic gymnastics, trampoline and aerobic gymnastics in the programme of the First European Games has led to the development of these types of gymnastics in Azerbaijan. As a result, our Federation is bringing together all six types of gymnastics represented at the European Games.

The main sports tournaments for us this year are the European Games and the World Championships which are to be held in the autumn and will offer licenses for the knock-out rounds of the Summer Olympics in 2016.

Within the framework of these tournaments our sportspeople have taken part in some stages of the World Cup, the Grand Prix and other international tournaments.

Almost every week Azerbaijani sportsmen are pitting their strengths in competitions in other countries. I would particularly like to note that we have two European champions. One of them was in men's gymnastics in the French city of Montpellier, where our gymnast Oleg Stepko performed successfully. He is one of the sportsmen in whom we are placing our hopes in the European Games. Marina Durunda, the leader of our team, won the bronze medal at the European artistic gymnastics championship in [the Belarusian capital] Minsk. At that championship, Aysan Bayramova stood in for Gulsum Safizada who had been injured. In spite of the fact that it was her first major tournament, Aysan came 16th and won a ticket to the next European championship.

- The Federation is promoting six types of gymnastics, of which three are new. Are there any problems with the new types of gymnastics?

- Among the new types of gymnastics that have been developed over the last two years, women's rhythmic and trampoline gymnastics are Olympic sports, aerobic gymnastics are not. Our main problem is a shortage of experts, but that is natural during the early stage of development. At the present time, we are trying to fill this gap by inviting coaches from other countries.

I would like to note with enormous regret that Alexander Pravdin, the chief coach of our women's gymnastics team, recently passed away. This sad event affected the performance of his trainees at the last European championship.

Now we are encouraging children to join the section to train in what are for us new forms of gymnastics and are even holding competitions among them. We are doing a certain amount of work aimed at boosting the number of sportsmen engaged in these types of sport and increasing the popularity of them among the population at large. Even in the first stage of these efforts it is felt that the population is showing great interest, which does of course make us very pleased. I would like to note that aerobic gymnastics is in a more advantageous position compared with other types of gymnastics, since sportsmen who have previously been performing in other forms of gymnastics can take it up. I would like to cite the example of the acrobat Elchin Mammadov who is to perform in the group competitions in aerobic gymnastics at the European Games.

- How satisfied are you with the level of the gymnasts' readiness for the European Games?

-As you know, in 2014 Azerbaijan's President Ilham Aliyev and the First Lady, President of Azerbaijan's Gymnastics Federation, Mehriban Aliyeva, officially opened the National Gymnastics Arena. All the conditions have been created there for top-level training for sportsmen and there is state-of-the-art medical equipment on site. Professional medical staff are constantly monitoring the gymnasts. No sportsman is guaranteed against injury in any professional type of sport. Unfortunately, owing to injuries, a number of our sportsmen will be unable to take part in the European Games. Some gymnasts will be performing although they have slight injuries.

The final monitored training sessions were held for the gymnasts on 6 June. On the whole, the level of preparedness of our sportspeople is satisfactory. They do feel somewhat anxious, but this is only natural because of their sense of responsibility. On the one hand, they are performing on home ground with tremendous backing from the spectators, but on the other, this makes them even more worried. But I believe that our sportspeople will get over their jitters and perform successfully.

For several years now Marina Durunda has been giving consistently high-level performances in order to be among the strongest female gymnasts. In the World Championships last year Marina competed for qualification and for the team score in mixed gymnastics and in the finals in individual types of gymnastics. In total, she performed 11 exercises without making any serious errors at all. The audience showed great interest in her unique compositions.

In spite of the fact that she is still very young, Marina is a good example of the school, skills and opportunities that have rapidly been developed over the last few years owing to the support that the state has rendered to artistic gymnastics. I believe that at the European Games too, our team leader will gladden everybody with beautiful performances, in which compositions accompanied by Azerbaijani music will occupy a special place.

- Strong competition awaits the sportsmen at the European Games. What goals have they been set?

- Fully-manned Azerbaijani teams are to be represented in all six types of gymnastics at the European Games. Of them two types - acrobatic and aerobic gymnastics are not Olympic forms of sport. Therefore the sportsmen and experts were pleased when they were included in the programme of the European Games and fresh opportunities were created. Each sportsman is set individual goals depending on his or her experience and abilities. It is hard to expect that medals will be won in all the forms of sport which have only just started to be promoted in our country, so the very fact that we are even taking part is already a kind of success. I believe that our sportspeople will perform well in other types of sports. They have been extremely zealous in training for the European Games and intend to give worthy performances in front of the home fans.

- What is being done to develop gymnastics in the regions?

- A few years ago we took the decision to promote artistic gymnastics not only in Baku, but in the regions as well. The first issue that arose was which experts should be sent out to the regions from Baku. The question arose of whether we had enough coaches for that. Today artistic gymnastic sections are operating at the sports and Olympic complexes in Xirda-lan, Sumqayit, Ganca, Goycay, Ismayilli, Kurdamir, Qusar, Sirvan and Naxcivan. Our young coaches were pleased to be seconded to these towns and cities to develop artistic gymnastics. I hope that in a few years' time local coaches will be working in each of these regions. In December 2014, we successfully held the first Inter-regional Aerobic Gymnastics Cup. The main aim was to create conditions for competitions of female gymnasts from the regions against more experienced rivals from Baku. The outcome of this has been good. After a short period of time, a representative of Xirdalan won second place in the Azerbaijan championship. Naturally, talented trainees from the regional sections will be invited to join the country's teams in the future, and I hope they will become well-known in the international arena.