BAKU, Azerbaijan, April 23. An award ceremony has been held at the National Gymnastics Arena in Baku for the FIG Rhythmic Gymnastics World Cup winners and prize-winners, Trend reports.
The winners and prize-winners were awarded in the individual exercise program with a hoop and ball, as well as in group exercises with five hoops.
Stiliana Nikolova, an athlete from Bulgaria, took the first place in the exercises with a hoop, Sofia Raffaeli from Italy occupied the second position; and another representative from Bulgaria Eva Brezalieva took the third place.
The awards were presented by Minister of Sports of Serbia Zoran Gajić, Vice President of the Rhythmic Gymnastics Technical Committee at the International Gymnastics Federation (FIG) Maria Petrova, and Head of the Sports Department of the Ministry of Youth and Sports of Azerbaijan Elnur Mammadov.
In exercises with the ball, Darja Varfolomeev (Germany) won the gold, Eva Brezalieva (Bulgaria) won the silver, and Tahmina Ikromova (Uzbekistan) won the bronze medal.
The awards were presented by President of the European Badminton Confederation Sven Serré, member of the Executive Committee of the Azerbaijan Gymnastics Federation, Director of the Heydar Aliyev Sports and Concert Complex Rafig Beybutov, and President of the Azerbaijan Badminton Federation Taleh Ziyadov.
In the group exercises in the program with five hoops, the first place was taken by the Israeli team, the second place by the Chinese team, and the third position was occupied by the Ukrainian team.
The awards were presented by Chinese Ambassador to Azerbaijan Guo Min, MP of Azerbaijan's Milli Majlis (Parliament), member of the Executive Committee of the Azerbaijan Gymnastics Federation (AGF) Rauf Aliyev, coach of the Azerbaijani national rhythmic gymnastics team, and member of the European Rhythmic Gymnastics Technical Committee Yevgeniya Vilyayeva.
The FIG World Cup competitions in Rhythmic Gymnastics are being held on April 21-23. During the competitions, 135 gymnasts from 40 countries of the world will be performing with their individual programs and in group exercises.