Ferhat Arican: competing in Baku is pleasure for gymnasts

It is always a pleasure to participate in competitions in Azerbaijan, Turkish gymnast Ferhat Arican said, speaking with Vestnik Kavkaza after performing in the pommel horse exercise qualification at the FIG Artistic Gymnastics World Cup in Baku.

"I am rather happy with my performance. For me, the key discipline in terms of qualification for the Olympics is the parallel bars, and yesterday I reached the final. But I also constantly improve my pommel horse skills - I usually get 1.3 points or less, and today I got 14, and it's very good, perhaps it will even be enough to reach the final," he said in the first place.

"It's my eighth or ninth time in Baku. I like competing here, because all the organization is always at the highest level. It is also great that local people are very similar to the Turks, and it feels like home in here," Ferhat Arican stressed.

The Turkish gymnast highly appreciated the success of Azerbaijani athlete Murad Agharzayev. "Murad is very good at floor exercises. I saw his floor performance yesterday, he's doing great. If Murad works a lot on this discipline, he will have a chance to reach the European Championship final and win a medal," he said.

The FIG Artistic Gymnastics World Cup is held at the National Gymnastics Arena in Baku on March 14-17. According to the new rules, the World Cup is a qualifying event for Tokyo-2020 Summer Olympic Games. 170 gymnasts from 41 countries will contest medals at the tournament.