Baku, Azerbaijan, Jan. 10
Trend:
The Azerbaijan Gymnastics Federation (AGF) has summed up the overall work done in 2018, Trend reports with reference to the AGF.
Last year, the World Cup on three kinds of gymnastics was held in Baku. The World Cup in artistic gymnastics, where more than 100 gymnasts from 25 countries took part, was the first one to be held last year. The World Cup in rhythmic gymnastics, held in the subsequent months, brought together 26 countries, while seven countries took part in the World Cup in aerobic gymnastics.
In addition to the World Cups, the AGF Junior Trophy, GymBala international rhythmic gymnastics tournaments were held at the National Gymnastics Arena, while the International Gymnastics Federation held the Open Azerbaijan and Baku Aerobic Gymnastics Championships.
The European Championships in Trampoline, Double Mini-Trampoline and Tumbling was the most memorable competition last year. More than 400 gymnasts from 25 countries took part in it: representatives of the Azerbaijani national team Veronika Zemlianaia and Sviatlana Makshtarova won bronze medals in pairs, while Mikhail Malkin became the Europe champion.
Azerbaijani gymnasts were also able to get medals at the Four Continents Rhythmic Gymnastics Championships held in the Spanish city of Guadalajara. Azerbaijani gymnast Arzu Jalilova and five gymnasts in the group exercises - Aliya Pashayeva, Siyana Vasileva, Zeynab Hummatova, Diana Ahmadbayli and Ayshan Bayramova received bronze medals in the tournament.
Along with these tournaments, the National Gymnastics Arena also hosted the qualification of pre-juniors in artistic gymnastics for the Olympic Games. Azerbaijani gymnast Yelizaveta Luzan won a gold medal among pre-juniors at the Olympic Games, which took place in October in Buenos Aires.
Three judges of the Azerbaijani national team also participated in this competition - Nigar Abdullayeva (in rhythmic gymnastics), Rza Aliyev (in men’s gymnastics) and Kamil Guliyev (in trampoline).
Azerbaijani gymnasts in 2018 also performed at the first European Gym for Life Challenge competition, and were able to get gold medals.
Last year, for the first time, the Azerbaijani team TeamGym took part in the 12th European TeamGym Championships held in the Portuguese city of Odivelas. The International Gymnastics Federation presented special cups to athletes representing Azerbaijan in group exercises with three balls and two jump ropes, as well as Mikhail Malkin according to the final points of all World Cups in trampoline gymnastics and tumbling held during the last two years.
The coaching courses of the Academy of the International Gymnastics Federation (FIG) were held for Azerbaijani rhythmic gymnastics, men's artistic gymnastics and aerobic gymnastics coaches in Baku in 2018.
The FIG Congress was held in Baku in early December. About 300 representatives from more than 115 countries took part in the work of the Congress, which, according to the FIG Charter, is the highest body of this structure. During the Congress, changes were made to the FIG charter to include parkour in the list of kinds of sports supervised by the International Gymnastics Federation.
The issues of ensuring the safety of all people related to sports discipline - gymnastics, the creation of an "Ethics Fund", which includes sections of control over compliance with ethical principles were put on the agenda of the Congress.
A number of other issues were also considered.
Baku also hosted meetings of the Trampoline Technical Committee of the European Union of Gymnastics, a meeting of the Presidential Council of the European Union of Gymnastics and a general meeting of the South African Gymnastics Union.
At the end of 2017, the activity of the Azerbaijan Gymnastics Federation was appreciated by the International Gymnastics Federation. The Azerbaijan Gymnastics Federation was included in the list of federations awarded for active work and ranked first in the rating.
The Azerbaijan Gymnastics Federation was also awarded by the National Olympic Committee and the Azerbaijani Ministry of Youth and Sports for organizing and holding high-level sports events. Head coach of the Azerbaijani national rhythmic gymnastics team Mariana Vasileva was chosen as "Trainer, committed to fair game principles".
European champion Mikail Malkin as one of 10 winners in the nomination "The best athlete of the year" and Azerbaijani gymnast Yelizaveta Lusan were awarded for worthy representation of the country at the 3rd Summer Olympics.
The Azerbaijan Gymnastics Federation hosted representatives from 111 countries in 2018.
In general, more than 2,000 foreign representatives visited Baku to attend events on various types of gymnastics.
The number of volunteers at international gymnastics competitions also reached a record high in 2018.
In 2018, 173 representatives from 17 countries chose the National Gymnastics Arena to conduct training camps.
The National Gymnastics Arena hosted over 15,000 spectators in 2018.
In 2018, the Azerbaijani national team grabbed 26 gold, 15 silver and 44 bronze medals.