Azerbaijan Gymnastics Federation (AGF) Vice President spoke in an exclusive interview with Day.Az
The 25th European Rhythmic Gymnastics European Championship will take place in Baku on May 15 to 17. As many as 186 gymnasts from 132 countries will participate.
Azerbaijan will be represented by senior Aliya Garayeva, Anna Gurbanova, Zeynab Javadli and Samira Mustafayeva (reserve) and also junior team which includes Sabina Abbasova, Nigar Abdulsalimova, Evgeniya Zhidkova, Aelita Khalafova, Kamila Mammadova and reserve Lala Maharramova.
The contest will start on May 15 at 10:30. Seniors will perform four types of exercises. The official opening will be held at 18:30.
The seniors will proceed with performance on May 16 and winners will be determined in team account. The contest of junior teams will begin on the same day.
The winners of the five sets of awards will be known on May 17. The group players will determine the strongest players with tapes and separate finals will be held in individual contests.
Day.Az: Mr. Altay, European Rhythmic Gymnastics European Championship will start in Baku in a couple of days. Is everything ready for the arrival of European Union of Gymnastics (EUG) management, numerous delegations and honorary guests?
Altay Hasanov: As you know our federation has held large rhythmic gymnastics contests and it was easy to organize the current European championship. For example, if prior to the Europe-2007 championship in Baku UEG representatives visited Baku several times. But this time they visited Azerbaijan only twice. It points to confidence to Azerbaijan. I hope the Euro-2009 will be held on a high level.
Much work has been done in terms of transport and stay of championship participants. The guests will mainly stay in three hotels - Crescent Beach, Park Inn and Grand Hotel Europe.
Each delegation will be guided by a volunteer with a command of a respective foreign language. We are cooperating with Ireli youth movement which helps us to a great degree and will help us with regard to fans during the contest.
Q: If no problems emerge regarding organizational issues, some fans are concerned about our gymnasts' performance which is natural given the significance of the contest. It is Baku championship that will open new Olympic cycle in rhythmic gymnastics.
A: Frankly, there is a reason to fear. You correctly noted that this is the first giant start after the Beijing Olympics. Typically, many sportswomen have the slow-down and there is a sort of reassessment of values after the Olympics Games. We have, for example, changes in coaching staff, new judges appread and Dinara Gimatova left the big sport.
The leader of our team - Aliya Garayeva has also experienced the slow-down. After the Olympics, she had a break which was connected both with physical and mental state. Unfortunately, she has not trained a few months and at present we see that Aliya is not yet at her peak form. We hope that she will reach her optimum condition by the European Championship. If she does not drop the subject, we can expect high results from her, even medals. Otherwise, we will face difficulty, because rivals do not doze. New gymnasts came and their motivation is at the highest level. For them, the first start of the Olympic cycle is very important. It can seem that there is still long time for the 2012 Olympics, but many sportswomen want to prove themselves from the beginning.
As to other two our gymnasts, Anna Gurbanova is stable. She is a "team player".
As to Zeynab Javadli, I can say that she is a very talented, forward-looking girl, who was noticed by Irina Viner a few years ago. She took her to Moscow, where Zeynab worked with the best coaches. But, unfortunately, Zeynab can not reach the level that we are looking forward to her. Perhaps, subjective reasons play a role in this case, because all the necessary conditions for her have been created.
It is planned that Aliya Garayeva will perform with all four instruments, Anna Gurbanova - with three, and Zeynab Javadli - with one as part of team championship at the European championship. However, if Zeynab is not successful during trainings, we will have to give this exercise to Anna. And then Javadli will just be a reserve gymnast and not perform in Baku, which is not very good for Zeynab and for the public which is waiting for her performance. Indeed, Zeynab is the person of our championship, banners and stands with her image are hung throughout the city.
So I understand the fears of fans of gymnastics concerning performances of our team, but I believe that Azerbaijan will perform with dignity. We also go through, but we continue to work to achieve the best results.
Q: Probably, you worry much less about our Junior Group team, which has recently pleasantly surprised by ranking the 2nd place in the international tournament in Israel?
A: Before we talk about the junior, I would like to remind that the team competitions are more difficult that individual. Especially Azerbaijan gains successes mainly in the individual sports. But, nevertheless, we created a group team a few years ago. Different professionals trained the group. But Bulgarian Trainer Marianna Vasilyeva at the end, as she trained the team for the Olympics for several months and this performance was too successful for Azerbaijan. To ranks eighth in the Olympic Games is very valuable. Azerbaijan fully entered the list of countries which have group teams.
Our junior group squad is performing successfully. We are looking forward to its successful performance in Baku. The main problem is the psychological training of girls. There were few starts, and our young gymnasts feel lack of sufficient experience. But, basically, we are pleased with their performances. Importantly, they were trained by the Azerbaijani Gymnastics School.
Q: How the changes, which were introduced this year, may affect the results of the European Championships?
A: Since judges demand more artistry from gymnasts. Sportswoman should contribute more "soul" to her performance. At the same time nobody canceled the complexity of the program and the quality of its execution. The artistry can play a crucial role to get points.
Q: What is the situation with the sale of tickets for the European Championship?
A: Before the entrance to complex during international competitions in Baku were free of charge. We needed to inform the public about the rhythmic gymnastics. We were working to popularize this gymnastics. Only 100-200 people visited the Heydar Aliyev Sport-Concert Complex during the World Championship 2007, while the Euro-2007 was visited by 1,000 people. There were people who came to the complex by themselves.
Now we are looking forward to a large accumulation of people. I receive a lot of calls to ask where they can buy tickets. This shows the popularity of gymnastics in our country, that people will go to the complex. For convenience of fans, we have allowed tickets to visit complex all the days of competitions, as well as tickets for each day.
Q: Audience is always interested in the details of opening and closing of championship. Lift the veil of secrecy.
A: I can say that we have invited director from Moscow Alexei Senchenov. He is the famous producer of all kinds of shows. There will be a lot of light and sound effects and beautiful scenery. The feature is that there will be shown scenes from the Azerbaijani history, our legends and tales. The opening and closing will be joined by a single plot. Therefore, I invite visitors to come both to opening and closing.
Q: Are you satisfied with the quality of the advertising campaign of the European Championships?
A: We receive marketing experience every year. The Federation is taking more professional approach to the issue. I'm satisfied with advertising campaign. We had a well-planned program of action in this direction. From the number of calls that we have received, I can see that people know about the championship and they are interested in the issue. Championship's talisman gazel named Gozal has played its positive role. I think that this is a good step of our marketologs.
The Azerbaijani Lider TV will broadcast the Championship. Among the foreign channels I can call the name of RTR Sport and Eurosport. Artistic gymnastics is a popular sport in Europe, and it is not surprising that so eminent televisions will broadcast from Baku.