GOLDEN RESULT

Rhythmic Gymnastics World Cup held in Baku will be remembered for beautiful performances, vibrant colours and outstanding results. Another remarkable aspect of the competition, featuring 126 athletes from 31 countries, was that spectators were allowed to attend the venue after a two-year break due to the pandemic. For the Azerbaijani team competing at home arena, the support of fans create a truly festive mood. With their professional, outstanding performances and unwavering will to win, the team tried to give the enthusiastic supporters unforgettable moments.

Decent performance

The first day of the tournament saw the qualification stages of the all-around programme of individual and group exercises. Athletes first demonstrated their skills using balls and hoops, followed by a 5-hoop exercise in the group programme. On the second day, our gymnasts won their first medal. With 63.650 points, the Azerbaijani national team of Güllü Aghalarzade, Leman Alimuradova, Kamilla Aliyeva, Zeynab Hummatova, Yelizaveta Luzan and Darya Sorokina were awarded a silver medal.

The last day of the tournament was another success. Members of the national team, which won a medal in all-around competition, surpassed all their rivals making it to the top of the podium in the five-hoops exercise. With 32.850 points, our girls left behind the strongest teams of other countries and raised the flag of Azerbaijan in the home arena. It was exciting to listen to the national anthem of Azerbaijan. Although the national anthem was played in an abridged form, as required by the rules effective for international competitions, the fans sang the national anthem of Azerbaijan till the end along with the athletes on the podium.

Arzu Jalilova, silver and bronze medallist of the World Junior Championship, bronze medallist of the European Championship, took the 4th place in hoop exercises (29.800), 5th place in ball exercises (30.100), and 6th place in ribbon exercises (27.400). The winner of the 4th Islamic Solidarity Games, two-time silver medallist of the Summer Universiade, participant of the Summer Olympic Games in Tokyo Zohra Aghamirova became the 6th best in the hoop (29.350) and club exercises (28.250).

As usual, the highest scoring gymnast and group team of the tournament were awarded the AGF Trophy cups. In the individual competition, Arzu Jalilova was the winner, while the best team in the group exercise was the national team of Italy.  

Happy coach

In her interview with R+, the coach of the Azerbaijan national team Siyana Vasileva expressed her satisfaction with her students performances: "I am satisfied with the result. It was our first competition. The result for the first start is very good. I am grateful to our fans, who gave us an unprecedented additional strength and support. The girls won the silver medal in the all-around. And in the final stage with five hoops, we showed the best result. We wanted to get the top award in the three ribbons and two balls performance as well. We just made some mistakes because this programme is new to our girls.”

Performing in Baku is not easy

Zeynab Hummatova: "Fans help us with their support. But performing in Baku is not an easy task. In the home city, we think only about medals and winning. Their absence has a very negative effect. Thanks God this time we showed excellent results. Our composition was full of difficult moves. According to new rules, tossing and catching objects without looking bring high points. All in all we had a lot of difficult moves. We performed them as required and took the first place. Thank you to everyone who supported us and our coaches.”

Baku has already hosted five international competitions in various types of gymnastics in 2022. The World Cup was the ninth competition in its rank held in Baku.