AZERBAIJAN CONQUERS EUROPE

Azerbaijani athletes continue their wins in various types of gymnastics. Along with successful performance at the European Championship, our gymnasts from the national team also pleased the fans with their performance in trampoline jumping and tumbling, winning medals of the World Cup.

The European Rhythmic Gymnastics Championships kicked off in Tel Aviv in mid-June. At this prestigious competition, which is held in Israel for the second time, the audiences witnessed very interesting performances and tense struggle of 286 gymnasts from 39 countries. Four bronze medals were awarded to the Azerbaijani national team. Junior Kamilla Gafarova won the first medal for the team. With 28.550 points for her confident performance with clubs, she was ranked the third best athlete of the tournament. Another medal for Azerbaijan came from the group exercise team. Gullu Aghalarzade, Laman Alimuradova, Kamilla Aliyeva, Zeynab Hummatova, Yelizaveta Luzan and Darya Sorokina won bronze medals in the all-around.

Our gymnasts also performed successfully on the last day of the competition. The group exercise team added two more bronze medals to their collection: one for the five-ring exercise and one for the exercise with three ribbons and two balls.

Empowering support

Zeynab Hummatova of the national team shared her impressions with R+: "As with any sporting award, the medals won at the European Championships are a result of our hard work and training. I would like to thank the Azerbaijan Gymnastics Federation, our coaches, and everyone who worked with us, including our parents. This support gives us strength and that is why our awards are common success. We will try to represent Azerbaijan with dignity in the future as well. It is always a pleasure to win medals.”

Gullu Aghalarzade said that every competition was very exciting, as the athletes are ambassadors of Azerbaijan: "We are proud to represent Azerbaijan at European championships. We will continue to do our best to hit the top of the podium.”

It was the first European championship in the career of Kamilla Gafarova though: "The tournament gave me lots of experience. I am very glad that I performed well and brought a medal for my country. I have to admit that my competitors were really strong, especially the gymnasts from Italy and Bulgaria".

Azerbaijani athletes also hit the podium at the Acrobatic Gymnastics World Cup held in Rzeszow, Poland. In the mixed pairs programme our team won two gold and one silver award. Female trio of Leyla Bashirova, Nazrin Farmanova and Mansuma Mammadzade and mixed couple of Aghasif Rahimov and Raziya Seyidli won gold medals for Azerbaijan. Men's pair Daniel Abbasov and Murad Rafiyev became the silver medallists of the tournament. By the way, these are the first gold medals of Azerbaijani gymnasts at the World Cup.

The Italian city of Rimini hosted the European Trampoline and Tumbling Championship. The Azerbaijani athletes were lucky here as well, with two gold, a silver and a bronze medal. Maqsud Maqsudov took the gold medal of the championship in individual competition among juniors. Then, together with his partner Huseyn Abbasov, he proved to be the best athlete in the synchronized jumps (48.420 points). Team member Mikhail Malkin won the silver medal among adults in the individual tumbling competition. Adil Hajizade (23.700), Mikhail Malkin (31.200) and Tofig Aliyev (27.500) won the bronze medals in team competitions.

Enjoying four medals

Maqsud Maqsudov, the winner of the European Junior Championship, shared his emotions: "The competition went very well. I won four medals. Becoming a European champion is a great feeling. Most of all, we were happy for the medals in the synchronized program. Of course, I am also very happy with the medal in the individual performance. Our medals are the product of hard training. Great credit for our success goes to the coaching staff and our federation".

The head coach of the Azerbaijani national team Vladimir Shulikin underlined the high level of performance: "I think that the European Championship ended very successfully for our national team both in tumbling and in trampoline. Mikhail Malkin won the silver medal, and in the team event our team became the third best for the first time. Two gold medals in trampoline gymnastics is a huge success. We should also note the performance of Seljan Maqsudova. She was fifth in the individual trampoline programme. Seljan is a real candidate to win a license to the 2024 Paris Summer Olympic Games.

Mr. Shulikin added that after the World Cup competitions in Portugal and Switzerland, they will start preparations for the world championship in Bulgaria.

Vice-president of the Azerbaijan Gymnastics Federation Altay Hasanov congratulated the medallists in rhythmic gymnastics, trampoline and tumbling and their coaches.