Tomorrow, the Rhythmic Gymnastics European Championship kicks off in the Israeli city of Holon. In an interview to Vestnik Kavkaza, the head coach of Azerbaijani national rhythmic gymnastics team, Mariana Vasileva, spoke about what objectives the country is facing in this tournament.
- What results are expected this year?
- Our team always expects only one thing: to show that our country's gymnastics developed rapidly in the past few years, and to show that people should to pay attention to us, since we are among leading countries.
- How important is championship in Israel for Azerbaijan?
- I can't say that the European Championship is different from all other starts. All starts are very important for us, because they are stages of our preparation. When one start ends, the next begins. The European Championship is the last two steps before the Olympic Games. This is a test for Marina Durunda before the Olympic Games, and the test on the quality of our youth national team.
- How will the composition of national team change compared to the previous European Championship?
- Marina Durunda, Zhalya Piriyeva and Aisha Bayramova, who currently represents our country in the group team, will participate in the individual competition among seniors. The composition of group team has not changed, except for Aisha, who replaced Sabina Abbasova. Several juniors will debut at these competitions. Zuhra Agamirova, Ilaha Mammadova and Veronica Gudis, as well as our replacement gymnast Daria Sorokina. This is an important first start for them.
- Whose performances, in your opinion, should viewers watch closely?
- It would be great if the audience noticed our performance. Performances last only a minute and a half with a short musical accompaniment. But we want to show that those are not just performances of gymnasts. Each performance, both in individual and in a group program, has its own theme, they are designed to tell you about it under a minute and a half.
