BAKU, Azerbaijan, March 10. Azerbaijani gymnast Nikita Simonov, who took third place at the World Cup in Doha (Qatar), finished his performance in the qualification with the first result on the exercise with rings on March 9, Head Coach of the Azerbaijani men's gymnastics team Ruslan Irgashev told Trend.
"Now we will try to improve the result and be the first in the final, the home World Cup must be won," he said. "Competitions in Baku are the third World Cup in a row. Ivan Tikhonov has now increased difficulty in the combination on the crossbar and has made the maximum in the exercise on the gymnastic pommel. He is supposed to show the same result at the European Championships.
According to the head coach, the gymnasts fully support each other, as they understand that they're doing one common cause.
"I feel a little tension every time they go on the platform. But this feeling is followed by a sense of relief as soon as they perform and reach the final," Irgashev added.
According to him, the athletes will perform at the Azerbaijan Championship and the Baku Championship following the World Cup.
"At the mentioned championships, Nikita Simonov will perform on his signature apparatus – rings, while Ivan Tikhonov – in the all-around since he needs to perform on six apparatus at the European Championship. After this, they will prepare for the European Championship, following which the selection for the World Championship will take place," he emphasized.
The FIG Artistic Gymnastics Apparatus World Cup is being held at the National Gymnastics Arena on March 9-12. According to the registration list, Azerbaijan has a record for the number of countries, as 173 athletes from 48 National Federations are expected to participate in the competition.
The first two days of the four-day World Cup competitions in Baku will feature qualifying stages, whereas the remaining days – finals, will determine the winners and prize-winners in exercises on individual implements. Following the results of the four-day competitions, the traditional “AGF Trophy” will be presented to the gymnasts who received the highest execution score.
Meanwhile, Azerbaijan will be represented by Nikita Simonov and Ivan Tikhonov (men's gymnastics), Samira Gahramanova, and Nazanin Teymurova (women's gymnastics) at the competitions. Following the results of the competition's first day, Simonov reached the finals on the rings.