Azerbaijan, Baku, June 3 / Trend M. Aliyev /
Azerbaijani gymnasts returned back on Monday from the Rhythmic Gymnastics European Championships in Vienna with silver medals.
"It has been the fifth season that we are pleased with our gymnasts," the head coach of Azerbaijan's national team in rhythmic gymnastics Marianna Vasileva told journalists upon her arrival in Baku.
According to Vasileva, this European Championship was far better for the Azerbaijani gymnasts than the previous one.
"Our junior team won bronze medals last time, and now they won the silver," Vasileva added.
She noted that the team has two young and still inexperienced gymnasts, Lala Yusifova and Marina Durunda. However, by taking fourth place, they could repeat the results achieved by Anna Gurbanova and Aliya Garayeva at the last championship.
"We are very happy as we could earn two quotas for the next European Championships to be held in Baku in 2014. Last time, Aliya Garayeva was the only one performing. I am very happy and grateful to everyone who supported us," Vasileva said.
Azerbaijan's national team in rhythmic gymnastics won a silver medal at the European Championships in Vienna.
The gymnasts were warmly welcomed at the Heydar Aliyev International Airport.
In the final, all eyes were on the junior team for group exercises that included Nilufyar Niftaliyeva, Gulsum Shafizade, Sabina Gummetova, Alexandra Platonova, Emiliya Baghieva and Aynur Mustafaeva, who performed with five hoops. Azerbaijani team performed phenomenally and received quite high ratings from the arbiters - 16.550 points. This result brought silver medals to the Azerbaijani gymnasts.
In the individual standings, Azerbaijani gymnasts were in four finals. Marina Durunda was the first, performing with a hoop. The referees gave her 17.650 points and, thus, she finished fifth. She was followed by Marina, performing the exercise with the ball, for what she received 17.700 points from the arbiters. Thus, she became the fifth.
The next was Lala Yusifova, who tried her luck with clubs. Athlete demonstrated great performance, having received from the judges 17.350 points and finishing as the seventh. Durunda was the last to perform at the championship with the ribbon. She was granted 17,766 points, finishing in the fifth place.
As for winners of the finals in individual events, they were Russians - Daria Svatkovskaya (hoop), Yana Kudryavtseva (ball, clubs) and Margarita Mamun (ribbon).Recall that the flag of the European Union of Gymnastics (UEG) was given to the Azerbaijani delegation.
