BAKU, Azerbaijan, May 22. The senior Azerbaijani team won gold in group exercises in the program with three ribbons and two balls on the final day of the 39th European Championship in Rhythmic Gymnastics in Baku, Trend reports.
The day before, the team was awarded "bronze" in the all-around. The team in group exercises includes Gullu Aghalarzade, Laman Alimuradova, Kamilla Aliyeva, Zeynab Hummatova, Yelizaveta Luzan and Darya Sorokina.
In an interview with media representatives, team members in group exercises pointed out that the path to the gold medal of the European Championship was not easy, but hard training and a great desire to achieve the goal yielded results.
"We are very glad that we won gold. For it we tried and worked hard with the coaches on every detail. We thank our coaches, choreographers, and everyone who supports us. Many emotions and feelings are indescribable. Of course, nothing is easy, sometimes you need to go through difficulties to succeed. We were striving for this victory, and we succeeded!" Alimuradova said.
She added that it was a great responsibility to perform in the National Gymnastics Arena, where she and the rest of the gymnasts felt the support of the entire auditorium.
In the qualification of the exercises with three ribbons and two balls, the team took the leading position, and, as the gymnasts noted, they felt even more responsible in the final.
"Having received the highest score in qualifying, we realized that we could win a medal in the final. This placed an even greater responsibility on us. Eventually, everything worked out for us, and we won the gold medal of the European Championship," Hummatova noted.
According to the gymnasts, they are grateful to everyone who supported them on this path.
The gymnasts also said that they have a lot of work ahead of them, and they need to win a license for the Olympic Games at the World Championships.
"We will try to keep raising the bar, because we haven't won an Olympic medal yet. We hope that we will succeed," the team members added.
The 39th European Championship in Rhythmic Gymnastics was held on May 17-21 at the National Gymnastics Arena in Baku. Gymnasts from 38 countries were participating in the European Championship in Baku, held under the "Shine like a star" motto.
The Azerbaijani national team has five medals in the European Championship.
Two bronze medals - in the all-around and in the five-ball program, were won by the junior team in group exercises consisting of Govhar Ibrahimova, Sakinakhanim Ismailzada, Madina Aslanova, Ilahi Bahadirova, Ayan Sadigova, and Zahra Jafarova.
Moreover, gold in exercises with three ribbons and two balls, and bronze in the all-around, were won by the senior team in group exercises consisting of Gullu Aghalarzade, Laman Alimuradova, Kamilla Aliyeva, Zeynab Hummatova, Yelizaveta Luzan and Darya Sorokina, as well as a bronze medal - by Azerbaijani gymnast Zohra Aghamirova in the ball program.
