Chingiz Abdullayev: rhythmic gymnastics is close to music

Rhythmic gymnastics is a kind of sports that is close to art, the People's Writer, the secretary of the Azerbaijani Writers' Union, President of the Azerbaijani PEN Centre Chingiz Abdullayev, who came to see the first performances of the FIG Rhythmic Gymnastics World Cup in Baku, told the correspondent of Vestnik Kavkaza.

"I always said that there are several sports that are close to art. There are sports where everything is objective: goals are counted in football and hockey, in boxing you can see who got knocked out, but rhythmic gymnastics, like ice-skating or synchronized swimming, is closer to art, in particular, to music," he explained.

"Of course, subjective preferences are not uncommon here, but this is understandable as not everyone may like one or other work of art. At the same time, rhythmic gymnastics is incredibly interesting, spectators get not only excitement from competitions, but also aesthetic pleasure," Chingiz Abdullayev stressed, adding that the theme of rhythmic gymnastics  may appear in his work in the future.

The writer noted that he welcomes desire of young people to be engaged in gymnastics. "When I first came to a meeting with gymnasts, I was a little surprised: everyone was slim and graceful, so I decided that they were children of the 1st or 2nd grades, but it turned out that they were teenagers of the 7th-9th grades. It was very interesting to talk with them, in addition, the girls were well-read. It's good that we have such children," he said.

Chingiz Abdullayev also highly appreciated the support of the development of gymnastics at the state level. "It's no secret that the President of the Azerbaijan Gymnastics Federation is the First Vice-President of the Republic Mehriban Aliyeva, and it is great, because special attention is given to the gymnastics. The great National Gymnastic Arena has been built, which hosts such significant competitions as the current World Cup. Baku was chosen for holding the tournament both for its conditions and the organization," he pointed out.

"Such events also raise Azerbaijan's prestige. We hosted the first European Olympic Games, the Islamic Solidarity Games will be held soon, the second Formula 1 Grand Prix will be also held. The number of World Cups in gymnastics in Azerbaijan shows an increased interest in this sport," the writer concluded.

The FIG Rhythmic Gymnastics World Cup will be held in Baku on April 28-30. Participation of 94 gymnasts from 21 countries is expected in the event, 37 of them will perform in the individual program, while 57 gymnasts will take part within the teams of group exercises. Athletes will compete for 8 medal sets.