BAKU, Azerbaijan, November 21. Azerbaijani gymnasts who won medals at the World Competitions among age groups in trampolining and tumbling in Birmingham (UK) returned home with medals, Trend reports.
At the Heydar Aliyev International Airport, the athletes were met by representatives of the Azerbaijan Gymnastics Federation, the sports community, colleagues, as well as relatives, loved ones and media representatives.
Members of the trampoline team Ibrahim Mustafazade and Ammar Bakhshaliyev won silver in the synchronized trampoline program. Samira Huseynova and Ayan Shabanova also won silver in the synchronized trampoline program. It should be noted that this result is the first achievement in the history of Azerbaijani gymnastics at the World Competitions among age groups in the women's synchronized jumping program.
A member of the Azerbaijani national acrobatic jumping team (tumbling) Alexey Karatashov won a bronze medal at the World Competitions among age groups.
Upon returning to their homeland, the athletes and the head coach of the Azerbaijani national acrobatic jumping team (tumbling) Adil Huseynzade shared their impressions of participation in the competition with media representatives.
According to Adil Huseynzade, the junior acrobatic jumping team is very promising.
"Alexey Karatashov did more than he could. His opponents were very strong and a little older. Now our main task is for Alexey Karatashov to show a good result at the European Championships, which will be held in April next year in the city of Guimarães (Portugal)," Adil Huseynzade noted.
The head coach of the tumbling team also touched upon the results of Azerbaijani gymnasts at the 37th World Trampoline and Tumbling Championships, which took place on November 9-12 in Birmingham.
The team member Mikhail Malkin won a gold medal for the first time in the history of Azerbaijani gymnastics at the World Championships in the acrobatic jumping program. Also, Malkin and members of the Azerbaijani national acrobatic jumping team - Tofig Aliyev, Adil Hajizade, Elnur Mamedov won gold in the team competition for the first time in the history of national gymnastics.
"At the World Championships we managed to win two historic medals. Experts predicted that we could win gold. And the guys went there to win!,” added Adil Huseynzade.
Gymnasts Samira Huseynova and Ayan Shabanova emphasized that they will try to take first place at the next competitions.
"The World Age Group Competition went well and we enjoyed everything. But more work is needed. We thank the Azerbaijan Gymnastics Federation, our coach for the great support," Huseynova said.
"When we took second place we were very happy. The preparation for the World Age Group Competition went well, and we were also very pleased with the result. Next year we will participate in the European Championship, we will be preparing hard for it in order to take first place," Ayan Shabanova added.
Ibrahim Mustafazade and Ammar Bakhshaliev noted that the competition was wonderful, leaving many pleasant moments in their memory.
“We showed a good result at the World Competitions among age groups. We thank our coaches, we tried to live up to their expectations. We hope that at the upcoming European Championship we will take first place,” the athletes said.