BAKU, Azerbaijan, March 10. The record number of countries participating in the FIG Artistic Gymnastics World Cup in Baku is a great success for Azerbaijan, Sports Director of the Azerbaijan Gymnastics Federation (AGF) Natalya Bulanova told Trend.
"The current FIG Artistic Gymnastics World Cup is already the seventh in a row, there is a record number of participating countries in the entire history of the World Cups in Baku,” Bulanova said. “A total of 173 gymnasts from 48 countries are participating, and we are very happy about it. We individually approach each gymnastic discipline, and we try to create conditions under which each athlete would feel at home."
She added that the support of the spectators helps the athletes.
"The spectators help not only the athletes, but also all the support staff, the entire committee involved in organizing the competition. When we see spectators in the stands, we ourselves enjoy it," the AGF official stressed.
Speaking about the performance in the qualifications of Azerbaijani gymnasts, Bulanova reminded that in the first day of the competition Nikita Simonov made it to the final of the exercise on the rings.
“Yesterday, our athlete Simonov completed the qualification with the first result. Of course, we would like him to remain in this place in the final, but the most important thing is his successful performance and well-being,” she said.
“Our second gymnast Ivan Tikhonov successfully performed today in qualification exercises on the crossbar. We’ll look forward to the results and cheer for the athletes with all our heart," the official concluded.
The FIG Artistic Gymnastics World Cup is held on March 9-12 at the National Gymnastics Arena in Baku. In the first two days of the four-day World Cup competitions in Baku, qualifying stages will be held, and in the remaining days, finals, which will determine the winners in exercises on individual equipment. Following the results of the four-day competition, the gymnasts with the highest score will also be awarded the traditional AGF Trophy.
Azerbaijan will be represented at the competitions by Nikita Simonov and Ivan Tikhonov (men's artistic gymnastics), Samira Gahramanova and Nazanin Teymurova (women's artistic gymnastics).
