Baku to Host FIG World Cup Finals

Azerbaijan, a country that is achieving a lot of success in gymnastics in such a short span of time, continues to organize prestigious international competitions. 

The final Rhythmic Gymnastics World Cup of the season will be held in Baku, the capital city of Azerbaijan, on 22nd to 24th of July, 2016.

Fans and audiences will get the opportunity to witness the remarkable performances of some of the most prominent gymnasts coming from 22 different countries. The competition will take place 2 weeks ahead of the most important event of the season – the 2016 Rio Olympic Games.

Thirty four prominent gymnasts and eleven groups will compete in group exercises on the first two days of the event. The final day of the World Cup finals will feature performances from different gymnastics disciplines.

Nine World Cup competitions have been hosted by the International Gymnastics Federation this year. At the World Cup in Baku, a special awarding ceremony will be organized for the athletes and teams taken the first places according to the best four results shown at previous Series.

“The winner of the annual World Cup is the gymnast or group with the highest number of points of the all World Cup Series Ranking Lists (Groups as well as All-Around for each apparatus) after the last event of the year.” (source: FIG)

Azerbaijan will be represented by the First European Games’ silver medalist Marina Durunda. The silver medalist of the European Championships in the junior category, Zhala Piriyeva, who has just joined the senior program, will also compete in the event. 

Siyana Vasileva, Ayshan Bayramova, Aleksandra Platonova, Diana Doman and Elif Zeynep Celep will compete for Azerbaijan in the group exercises at the World Cup event.

The competition will also feature a spectacular Opening Ceremony (22nd of July), which will be directed by Mariana Vasileva, the Head Coach of the Azerbaijan National Team. There will also be a traditional Gala on 24th of July, where the young gymnasts – the future international competitors of Azerbaijan – will deliver an outstanding performance for the rhythmic gymnastics fans to watch.

The tickets for the said event can be purchased at the ticket office of the MGA, National Gymnastics Arena, and also at the “Bazerstore supermarket. The tickets are priced from 5 to 20 manats, and a discount will be provided for those who will avail tickets for all 3 days of the World Cup competition. Students will also be provided with a special discount.

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National Gymnastics Arena 100% Ready for the Baku World Challenge Cup

As the FIG World Challenge Cup 2016 AGF Trophy comes closer, the national team gets even more focused on their preparation for the competition, spending the whole day in the hall.

Petro Pakhnyuk, an artistic gymnast from the host country, Azerbaijan, mentioned that the upcoming World Cup will be the first major competition for this Olympic year. “The season’s first event is very important for us as we host it at home. Afterwards, we will prepare for the Olympics step-by-step. Following our World Cup, there will be another one in Qatar. Pre-Olympic Test Event qualifying for the Games will take place in Rio de Janeiro in April.” he said.

This is the National Gymnastics Arena

He mentioned that the National Gymnastics Arena is now fully ready to accommodate the World Cup.”Arena was ready for the event even two weeks before the World Cup, so we can host the competitions even today. Very good gymnasts will come to Baku, including a very strong Japanese team, a few high-class gymnasts from Israel, as well as Ukraine stably brings good athletes. So, we will have serious contest,” he said.

Israeli artistic gymnast Alexander Shatilov insisted that the competition is a very significant event for Azerbaijan, and he believes that the World Cup will run at the highest level.

Alexander Shatilov have already went to Azerbaijan for a lot of times already, including during the time of the first European Games. He cited that the National Arena – the event’s venue – is a very cutting-edge building with an excellent atmosphere, starting from the warm-up hall to the field of play.

He stressed that even though the FIG World Challenge Cup possesses a lesser significance compared to the European Games, it will still not be easy to attain remarkable results due to the presence of the Asian gymnasts in the competition, in addition to the fact that the local gymnasts from Azerbaijan will be their biggest rival in the competition for medals.

Sergei Vaysburg, the Israeli Artistic Gymnasts National team head coach, mentioned that it would be much harder to achieve medal-winning results in the upcoming Baku World Challenge Cup compared to the First European Games.

“The European Games hosted gymnasts only from Europe. But, this is the World Cup and athletes from all over the world will gather in Baku. We shall mention Asian gymnasts who are one of the strongest gymnasts in the world. Anyway, we are here not only to participate, but also to try to take any prize-winning places,” he said.

Uzbekistan gymnastics coach Konstantin Shaulov mentioned that he had already visited several facilities from various countries, but he was amazed that everything is done just splendidly in Baku. “First, it is vast and there is a comfortable hotel inside. I will repeat that it is just splendid.”

Nina Pravdina, the Azerbaijani Women’s Artistic Gymnastics National Team Head Coach, strongly believes that her team will achieve remarkable results in the World Cup, as the gymnasts are already 70-80 percent ready for the competition.

“We still have the main week ahead which promises to be strained enough in terms of preparation for the competition. So, we will try to be in a good form by the start of the event. The girls have some slight injuries, but we try to be strong, undergo treatment and work hard,” she said.

Pravdina also mentioned the remarkable preparations for the Cup at the Arena. “The preparations are going in an intensive way, and it will be very interesting. One of the best parts of the competitions is an Opening Ceremony. In general, this will be the best World Cup, as, in my opinion, no one could hold it better than Azerbaijan. Everything is prepared here at a high level,” the head coach said.

Pavlo Netreba, the Head Coach of the Azerbaijan Men’s National Artistic Gymnastics team, is quite confident that the World Challenge Cup will bring a lot of great things to look forward to.

“Quite strong athletes will participate at the World Challenge Cup,” he noted. “Last year turned out to be saturated and hard, both physically and morally. Moreover, the boys had some slight injuries, which we needed to treat. But, in general, everything is going fine.”

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Azerbaijan's First Lady Receives EOC "Order of Merit" Award

In acknowledgement of her “contribution to sport and the Olympic Movement”, the Azerbaijan’s First Lady, Mehriban Aliyeva, has received the award of the EOC Order of Merit Thursday morning.

The award was granted to her because of her exceptional role as the chair of the Organizing Committee for the first European Games which was held in Baku last year.

Aliyeva, the wife of Ilham Aliyev – Azerbaijan’s current President, has received the award from the President of European Olympic Committee Patrick Hickey, holding its first Executive Committee meeting of the year later today. 

She was also granted with a special Baku 2015 commemorative gold medal.

“Thank you for such a warm welcome here today” Aliyeva told the European Olympic Committee officials.

Pere Miró, the deputy secretary general of the International Olympic Committee, an Azerbaijani delegation, and Azad Rahimov, the chief executive of Baku 2015 and the Minister for Youth and Sports have also attended the said ceremony.

“I was a bit surprised about this award,” Aliyeva stated.

“I am accepting it on behalf of the whole Baku 2015 Games, which marked a historic moment for the sport and Azerbaijan.”

“We had only two-and-a-half years of preparation, but it was a common opinion that the Games became a real success.”

The latest recipients of the European Olympic Committee’s highest distinction include Thomas Bach, the President of the Internation Olympic Committee and Russia’s Vitaly Smirnov, who, after 44 years of service, stepped down as an IOC member at the end of 2015, due to reaching the age-limit of 80.

The President of the European Olympic Committee praised Aliyeva for the “hands-on” commitment she displayed before and during the European Games.

She was originally scheduled to receive the award at the EOC’s General Assembly in November in front of the full EOC membership, but she was not able to attend because of a diplomatic engagement.

However, the honour she received might be criticized by some, unfortunately, due to concerns over Azerbaijan’s human rights record.

The European Olympic Committee, along with Hickey, received identical criticism in 2008 after Alexander Lukashenko, the President of Belarus, was honoured “for his Outstanding Contribution to the Olympic Movement”.

Hickey made a pledge to Aliyeva that the European Games dream will stay “alive and well” even there’s still no host that’s been named for its second edition in the year 2019.

Russia was about to be acknowledged as the replacement host after the withdrawal of the Netherlands last year, but it was delayed due to the World Anti-Doping Agency’s Independent Commision’s allegations of systemic doping across Russian athletes.

"There will be an announcement and one that you are very happy with," promised Hickey, a member of the IOC Executive Board.

Hickey also expressed his admiration for Azerbaijani’s President Ilham Aliyev, who also acts as the head of the Azerbaijan’s National Olympic Committee. Hickey described him as a “fantastic visionary” and “a great man”.

He was unable to attend the event as he was scheduled to attend the World Economic Forum in Davos at that time.

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