COMMITTED TO WIN

The second major competition of 2019, the World Gymnastics Cup, ended at the National Gymnastics Arena in Baku. It was a qualification round for the 2020 Tokyo Summer Olympics. 160 male and female gymnasts from more than 40 countries took part in the tournament held for four days.

Exercises for men athletes included free exercises, vaulting, as well as exercises on parallel bars, pommel horse, rings and crossbars. Women tried their strength in vaulting, free exercises, as well as the exercises on beam and uneven bars.

With 14.800 points, Azerbaijani athlete Nikita Simonov won the silver medal of the Cup for ring exercises. In free exercises, Murad Agharzayev became the 6th (13.800) strong athlete. Marina Nekrasova with 13.966 points also shared the 6th place of the tournament in vaulting.

In his interview, the silver medallist of the World Cup Nikita Simonov said that the main goal was to win a ticket to Tokyo. "The level of the World Cup was very high. I am glad to have the silver medal. However, I understand that the main struggle is still ahead. My main goal is to win a ticket to the 2020 Summer Olympics," Simonov told the reporters.

The first qualification round of the World Cup was held in November 2018 in Cottbus, Germany with the participation of athletes from 50 countries of the world. In February 2019, gymnasts from 32 countries took part in the competition held in Melbourne, Australia. The third qualification tournament held in Azerbaijan hosted Olympic winners, as well as the winners of world and European championships. The last qualification round of the World Cup in gymnastics for the summer Olympics was held on March 20-23 in Doha, Qatar, where Marina Nekrasova of Azerbaijan achieved the best result among Azerbaijani athletes. In the vault, Marina started from the 6th place and made her way straight to the final stage of the tournament. With 13.216 points at the final stage, she finished the competition as the 8th.

By the way, this year the Baku National Gymnastics Arena will host another World Cup on April 26-28. It is the same place, which will host the European Rhythmic Gymnastics Championship (May 16-19) followed by the European Aerobics Championship (May 24-26). On July 20-28, Baku for the first time will host another prestigious competition, the European Youth Olympic Festival. The last competition of the year (September 16-22) will be another licensed tournament, the World Rhythmic Gymnastics Championship. We already know the name of the first ambassador of the upcoming event — the famous Russian gymnast Yana Batyrshina. Nomination of Batyrshina was officially approved by the International Gymnastics Federation. The many-time world champion, Olympic medallist (1996, Atlanta) will take part in a special promotion program for the World Championship. The program includes a number of events and meetings with fans.