STRONGER AND HARDER

The 11th General Convention of the Azerbaijan Gymnastics Federation (AGF) and the 37th meeting of its Executive Committee were held at the Baku National Gymnastics Arena to report on achievements of past years and to elect new members, in accordance with the charter of the Federation.

Altay Hasanov, Vice-President of AGF, made a report on the activities of AGF over the past five years, particularly the achievements of the federation at the Olympic Games, world and European championships, as well as other important competitions. He informed about the licenses received for the Tokyo Olympic Games-2020, international competitions and events held in Baku, the development of new types of gymnastics, as well as the successes of AGF on international arena. Mr. Hasanov said praised the management of the federation and the First Vice President of Azerbaijan, President of AGF Mehriban Aliyeva, thanking her on behalf of the gymnastics community of Azerbaijan.

Also, the First Lady of Azerbaijan, Mehriban Aliyeva, was re-elected as the President of the Azerbaijan Gymnastics Federation for the next five-year term.

According to the vote, Altay Hasanov was elected Vice-President of AGF, while the member of parliament Rauf Aliyev, Director of the H. Aliyev Sports and Concert Complex Rafig Behbudov and head coach of the Azerbaijani rhythmic gymnastics team Mariana Vasileva were re-elected as members of the Executive Committee. The convention was followed by the 37th general meeting of the newly elected AGF Executive Committee. Nurlana Mammadzade, who has been the Secretary General of AGF for the last three years, was re-approved on her position.

Among the favourites

It is no secret that the accomplishments of AGF in recent years have increased the interest in gymnastics in the country, making it one of the favourites of prestigious competitions.

During the previous five years, we have observed significant events in the history of Azerbaijani gymnastics. Major competitions in various types of gymnastics, which have been held in Baku since 2016, have boosted the development of gymnastics in the country. A total of 13 world cups in rhythmic gymnastics, artistic gymnastics and trampoline jumping (Olympic sports) have been organized at the National Gymnastics Arena over the past period. Four of them were licensed for the Tokyo 2020 Olympics in artistic gymnastics and trampoline. In 2018, Baku hosted the World Cup in acrobatic gymnastics, which is not an Olympic sport.

In 2016, for the first time in the history of Azerbaijani gymnastics, Baku also hosted European championships in trampoline jumping, tumbling and double mini-trampoline, with Azerbaijani gymnast Mikhail Mankin winning the gold medal in tumbling competitions, and Svetlana Makshtareva and Veronica Zemlyanaya becoming the silver medallists in synchronized jumping.

In 2019, European Rhythmic Gymnastics Championship and aerobics championship were also held in Baku. Our athletes were awarded a gold medal for the aerodance program. The final international competition in 2019 was the World Championship on Rhythmic Gymnastics with qualifications for the Tokyo Olympic Games, with the Azerbaijani athlete Zohra Agamirova qualified for the most prestigious international competition. After 13 years, our national team was also qualified to represent Azerbaijan at the Tokyo Olympics in group exercises.

In 2017, in rhythmic, men’s and women’s artistic gymnastics, our representatives won 20 medals at the Islamic Solidarity Games. At the 2019 European Youth Summer Olympic Festival held in Baku, Samed Mammadli from Azerbaijan won a silver medal of the tournament.

Our athletes have also showed their skills at competitions outside Azerbaijan. Thus, at the Rio Summer Olympic Games, for the first time in the history of Azerbaijani men's gymnastics, Azerbaijan was represented by two athletes. One of them, Oleg Stepko won the right to participate in the all-around final among 24 athletes, according to the sum of points scored in six exercises of the qualifying stage. At the same tournament, Marina Durunda competed with ten strongest athletes in the all-around finals in rhythmic gymnastics.

According to the results of the 2019 all-around at the World Championship in Stuttgart, Ivan Tikhomirov won a ticket to the Tokyo Olympic Games. For the first time in the history of women's artistic gymnastics in Azerbaijan, Marina Nekrasova earned a license for Tokyo 2020 based on the results of the all-around exercises.

Despite the pandemic

Despite the difficulties and restrictions due to the coronavirus pandemic, our athletes were able to achieve great results thanks to intensive indoor training at the National Gymnastics Arena. At the European Rhythmic Gymnastics Championship held in Kiev, our team won silver medals in the all-around and bronze medals in the program with 3 hoops and 2 pairs of clubs in group exercises. The youth team of Azerbaijan won another bronze medal for the country. It is nice to see that three of four junior athletes represented sport clubs of various cities of Azerbaijan.

In trampoline jumping, Dmitry Fedorovsky of Azerbaijan won a bronze medal at the 2016 European Championship held in Valladolid, Spain with his debut in the double mini-trampoline competition. In 2017, at the World Games in Wroclaw, Poland, Veronika Zemlyanaya and Svetlana Makshtareva became silver medallists in synchronized jumping for the first time in the history of Azerbaijani gymnastics. In 2019, in Tokyo, at the 27th World Age Group Trampoline Competition, Magsud Magsudov was awarded a gold medal for the first time in Azerbaijan’s history in the individual program (age group 11-12). In the synchronous program, Magsud won a silver medal, competing with his teammate Huseyn Abbasov. Alexei Karatashev representing Azerbaijan in the same age category was awarded the gold medal in tumbling.

Along with the achievements of Azerbaijani gymnasts in the international arena, we are also pleased with the successes of AGF in the sports world. For the sixth year in a row, AGF has been one of the federations awarded by the International Gymnastics Federation, and has been leading in it for the last three years. In 2017, at the congress of the European Gymnastics Union, Farid Gayibov, who was the Secretary General of AGF for 12 years, was elected president of this organization.

In general, our athletes have demonstrated good results in all competitions. The growing number of gymnastics schools in different parts of the country helps to discover new talented athletes in  regions. Our athletes are now preparing to take part at European and world championships, as well as the Tokyo Summer Olympic Games. Even after the Olympic Games, AGF will do its best to train a new generation of athletes for Azerbaijan.