29 March 2024

Friday, 05:39

BRILLIANT PERFORMANCES

Azerbaijani national team returns from the World Cup and European championship with triumphant victories

Author:

15.06.2022

The first days of summer went down in history with the outstanding victories of Azerbaijani gymnasts. Our athletes have successfully defended the country's reputation in individual gymnastics events at the World Cup and the European championship.

 

Gold from Rimini

On June 1-5, the Italian city of Rimini hosted the European championship on trampoline gymnastics and tumbling. The successful performance of Azerbaijani athletes at the tournament was awarded with 2 gold, 1 silver and 1 bronze medals. In the individual program on trampoline Magsud Magsudov won a gold medal and became the European champion among junior athletes. In the competition among synchronised pairs, he and his teammate Huseyn Abbasov became the second best (48.420).

Mikhail Malkin won a silver medal in the individual programme on acrobatic jumping among adults.

Adil Hajizade (23,700), Mikhail Malkin (31,200) and Tofig Aliyev (27,500) won bronze medals in the team event.

 

Secret of success

In his interview with R+, European champion Magsud Magsudov said that this victory was the result of hard training: "The competition was very successful. I won four medals. It is a great feeling to become a European champion. Our biggest success was the medal in the synchronised programme. However, I am happy with the medal in the individual event as well. Hard training, instructions from our coaches and the support of the federation are the secret of our success. As an athlete I always dream of winning. Thank you to our fans who supported us.”

Huseyn Abbasov added that the competition was excellent and the medals were the result of good preparation. "Thank you to everyone who supported us, including the Azerbaijan Gymnastics Federation and our coaches. It was not easy to recover after the pandemic. We did our best to justify the trust of our fans. The competition was very tough. But we did not follow the performances of our competitors. We focused all our attention on ourselves. We have enough experience. That's why we dream of winning medals at all competitions," Abbasov said.

Silver medalist Mikhail Malkin also noted his satisfaction with the results and the participation of very strong rivals.

Vladimir Shulikin, head coach of the Azerbaijani team, said that the athletes represented Azerbaijan at the highest level: "I believe that the European championship was a success for the national team both in tumbling and trampoline gymnastics. Mikhail Malkin won a silver medal and in the team event we took the third place for the first time. In trampoline gymnastics we won two gold medals, which is a great success. I should also note the performance of Seljan Maqsudova. She became the fifth best in individual competitions. Seljan is our real candidate for the Paris Summer Olympic Games in 2024.”

He added that the team has two world championships ahead, in Portugal and Switzerland. Then the team will start preparations for the world championship in Bulgaria.

 

World Challenge Cup

The world championship in trampoline gymnastics and tumbling was also held in Italy, where Mikhail Malkin was awarded a silver medal. Another member of the national team, Tofig Aliyev, who competed in the final stage of the tournament, finished the sixth.

Azerbaijani athletes also won a medal at the World Challenge Cup in Varna, Bulgaria, where a member of the national team, Nikita Simonov, was awarded a gold medal for his performance on the rings.

Azerbaijani acrobats added yet another success to their asset. The World Acrobatic Gymnastics Cup held on June 3-5 in Rzeszow, Poland was also a success for Azerbaijan. The national team won 2 gold and 1 silver medal in the mixed exercises. Women's team consisting of Leyla Bashirova, Nazrin Farmanova and Mansuma Mammadzade, mixed couple Aghasif Rahimov and Raziya Seyidli won gold medals, while Daniel Abbasov and Murad Rafiyev were awarded silver medals amond the men. By the way, it is the first time Azerbaijani women's team and mixed pair won gold medals at the world cup in acrobatic gymnastics.

The results shown at prestigious competitions in trampoline and acrobatic gymnastics are encouraging. These sports have begun to develop in recent years. The current achievements of our athletes who started training in tumbling, trampoline or acrobatic gymnastics just 5-6 years ago are evidence of the willingness and ability to conquer heights in these kinds of sport.  

By the way, in June the Azerbaijani Ministry of Youth and Sports published the ranking of athletes of Azerbaijani national teams in various sports. Azerbaijan's rhythmic gymnastics team is in first place with 255 points. The second and third places belong to Ruslan Lunev (220) in bullet shooting and Zohra Agamirova (170) in rhythmic gymnastics.

We should note that the scoring was done according to the rules set by the Ministry of Youth and Sports. International competitions are divided into 5 categories and points are awarded according to rankings and places won.



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