"THE SEASON HAS ONLY JUST BEGUN"

The European championship in artistic gymnastics is to be held in Baku in June. This prestigious competition is to take place in Azerbaijan in 2014. Azerbaijani gymnasts are continuing to train for the competition. Over the last few weeks they have taken part in a number tournaments, in which they did fairly well. Azerbaijan's team for group exercises came first in the exercise with three balls and two ribbons at the Grand-prix for artistic gymnastics held in the French town of Thiais. Israel took second place and China the third. Azerbaijan's team included Sabina Abbasova, Siyana Vasilyeva, Aliya Pasayeva, Diana Doman, Aleksandra Platonova and Aynur Mustafayeva.

Our sportswomen enjoyed success at the World Cup competitions in Hungary. After gaining 17.6 points in the finals of the exercises with the hoop, Marina Durunda left her rivals from Ukraine and Russia behind. The extremely difficult programme, her bright-coloured clothing, the high marks awarded by the judges and the enthusiastic applause of the spectators ended up with the raising of Azerbaijan's flag and Marina Durunda winning the world cup.

Even the group exercise team in the combined events stood out. Six female gymnasts performed their interesting composition to a very high standard accompanied by the immortal music of Uzeyir Hacibayov. Finally the Azerbaijani team became the winner in the combined events entry, and won the bronze medal in the performances with three balls and two ribbons.

At the international tournament for junior gymnasts which was happening at the same time as the World Cup Jala Piriyeva and Zuleyxa Ismaylova also won gold medals in the individual exercises with the hoop and club respectively. The chief coach of our national team, Mariana VASILIEVA, commented on these successes by Azeri gymnasts, their plans for training for the European championship in an interview with Regionplus.

- Having successfully taken part in a number of tournaments, including the World Cup, Azerbaijan's gymnasts have returned to their homeland with medals.

- Besides Marina Durunda I would like to mention Nilufar Niftaliyeva as well, who became one of the finalists at the World Cup for the first time. The seventh place that she gained is very important for us experts and also for the gymnast herself.  The successes of Gulsum Safizada, who hopes to gain a place in the team for the European championships, and the junior gymnast Beyza Demir are also noteworthy. Gulsum won in the all four finals at the international tournament in Calais (France) and took second place in the mixed programme. Beyza won in the exercise with the ribbon. As the chief coach, I can't help feeling pleased that our gymnasts are going for the medals in every competition. Now we are reaping the fruits of our work with children. Now our young gymnasts are performing successfully at competitions for adults. All countries now recognise that Azerbaijan has teams with great potential. In gymnastics the season has only just begun. It is therefore difficult to talk about the team as a whole.

Besides the successes, they also make mistakes. It is important to work on them and eliminate them.

- Our teams' consistent participation in tournaments is having a beneficial on the experience of the gymnasts too.

- We are very pleased that Azerbaijani gymnasts are among the favourites at every competition. It is particularly important that these successes are being achieved on the eve of the European Championship which is being held in Baku. Our sportswomen will be in a really high spirits when they are preparing for this European championship. The fact that the championship is being held in Baku means that we feel more responsible for the outcome.

- After the successes achieved, can you predict who might be successful at the European championship?

- The good results that our gymnasts have achieved in the numerous tournaments have proved that they are of a high standard. Each of the teams coming to Baku will be our rival. Now gymnastics in Europe is developing apace, there are no weak teams or sportswomen. The favourites are always the same, in the individual performance it is always the gymnasts from Russia, Ukraine and Belarus that distinguish themselves. I would like to mention the Italian, Russian, Spanish, Bulgarian and Belarusian teams with regard to the group exercises. 

The competition is of a high standard. We cannot rest content. I constantly tell the gymnasts that they need to train tirelessly.

- I would like to talk about Marina Durunda. In spite of her young age, her striving in every competition to fight for the highest possible place is praise-worthy.

- Marina Durunda is considered to be one of the leaders in the individual programme. She is only 16 years old and one might say that her career as a gymnast is only just starting. The members of group exercise team are also young. A few years ago we started to set about getting younger people in the teams. After imagining the chances that junior gymnasts would have for several years, we believed that in the future they would be able to rival strong sportswomen. The main aim was to shape a well trained team for the Olympic Games.

- At what stage is the training for the European championship?

- Now, at the end of each week, our team will be taking part in various competitions. Closer to the end of April the number of tournaments will get less, and we shall set out specifically training the teams. We shall work on their mistakes. I feel sure that the European championship, which is to be held at the Baku gymnastics centre, will be organised to a high standard. Azerbaijan always sets a good example for other countries in things like this. The same will be true of the European championship. Now our gymnasts have the state-of-the-art Baku gymnastics centre. All the conditions have been created in this complex. This arena is better than many complexes in Europe. I would like to express my thanks to Mehriban xanim Aliyeva, the president of the Federation of Gymnastics of Azerbaijan, for creating the conditions for our gymnasts.

You have said that the competitions in Baku mean that our gymnasts have an extra sense of responsibility. Special attention will evidently be paid to the training of our sportswomen?

- The European championship, which is being held in Baku, is the thirtieth. I am happy that an anniversary championship is going to take place in Azerbaijan's capital. I believe that this tournament will be a famous one not only because of the high standard of organisation and because it is an anniversary one, but because of the brilliant performances of the Azerbaijani gymnasts.