TWICE AS STRONGER

The National Gymnastics Arena in Baku has once again hosted internationally renowned gymnasts. 135 graces from 40 countries demonstrated their performance at the Rhythmic Gymnastics World Cup to compete in Baku, Azerbaijan.

Azerbaijan was represented in the individual all-around by Zohra Aghamirova, participant of the Summer Olympics Games in Tokyo, two-time silver medallist of the Summer Universiade, winner of the Islamic Solidarity Games, and Alina Gozalova, bronze medallist of the European Championship in the team event, winner of the 5th Islamic Solidarity Games.

Hard battle

Zohra Aghamirova finished the classification stage the ninth (61.750) with hoop and ball exercises. Referees assessed the performance of our gymnast in the qualifying round with 32.000 points. That is how Aghamirova made it to the finals.

The experienced gymnast Zohra Aghamirova demonstrated a dynamic programme with ball and clubs in the final individual programme. Although she was ahead of world champion Sofia Raffaelli (Italy) and the bronze medallist Stiliana Nikolova (Bulgaria) in the ball routine, the score of 31.700 was not enough to be among the winners of the tournament. Thus, Zohra ended up finishing fourth.

The Azerbaijani team of Gullu Aghalarzade, Laman Alimuradova, Kamilla Aliyeva, Zeynab Hummatova, Yelizaveta Luzan and Darya Sorokina advanced to the Rhythmic Gymnastics World Cup final in Baku. The team received 33.500 points from the referees for its performance with five hoops in the qualifying round. After finishing third overall, our team advanced to the final round. The gymnasts also performed well in the finals. The national team took third place in the all-around with a score of 65.750, hence securing a bronze medal.

On the last day of the championship, the Azerbaijani gymnasts once again pleased their fans. They successfully performed in the three ribbons and two balls and became the third with 32.300 points. In addition, they also became the fourth strongest team for the five-hoop routine (32.950).

Good result

Zeynab Hummatova, a member of the Azerbaijani group exercise team, shared her impressions with us: "It is always a responsibility to compete at home. Winning two medals in a world championship is a good result. We lost a medal because of our mistakes during the five-hoop performance. New rules have increased the complexity of moves. That is why mistakes occur in all the teams. On the other hand, our composition is new, we need to work on it. The performance with three ribbons and two balls was more successful. We can say that we made no technical mistakes. We have the World Cup in Portugal ahead of us, and then the European Championship at home."

World Cup bronze medallist Güllü Aghalarzade also praised her achievements at the Baku competition: "First of all, congratulations to everyone. This success was a result of intensive training. We are grateful to our fans, coaches, federation, and everyone who supported us, including our parents. The competition was very intense. The bronze medals we won at the world championship show that we are on the right track. Of course, our goal was to win a medal of higher value, but small mistakes prevented us from achieving the desired goal. The competition at continental championships will be more difficult. Now all our attention is focused on the upcoming European Championship. We always feel a strong support in the home arena. In order to win a medal at the continental championship in May, we have to work harder in training."

Thus, two bronze medals at the World Championship can be considered a satisfactory result. Due to injuries, the Azerbaijani team dropped out of international competitions at the beginning of the year and managed to compete in only one tournament before the important competition in Baku. Therefore, it was quite difficult to be among the medallists at the World Cup.

Before the European Championship

The most anticipated competition of the year, which will feature a particularly spectacular opening ceremony, will bring together gymnasts from 38 countries. The championship will be one of the most memorable, not only for those who have established themselves as stars, but also for the young athletes striving for great success. And, of course, for the fans who will come to Baku from different countries to support their representatives.

This is going to be the fifth European Rhythmic Gymnastics Championship to be held in Azerbaijan. Baku has previously hosted European championships in this sport in 2007, 2009, 2014 and 2019. During the competition, athletes will perform in individual programme (seniors) as well as group exercises (juniors and seniors). Athletes in individual programme will compete in the all-around as well as in the exercises with individual gymnastic apparatus (clubs, hoop, ball, ribbon).

According to the results of the draw, the Azerbaijani gymnasts in the individual programme (seniors) and the junior team in the group exercise will perform under number 18 and the adult team in the group exercise under number 10.