Vladimir Shulikin: "We want to show ourselves and Azerbaijan"

By Vestnik Kavkaza
Vladimir Shulikin: "We want to show ourselves and Azerbaijan"

Baku is hosting the Trampoline World Cup, in which athletes from Japan, Australia and the United States are involved along with representatives of the European countries. 77 gymnasts (46 men and 31 women) representing 17 countries are taking part in competitions in individual and synchronized programs. The head coach of the Azerbaijani National Trampoline Team Vladimir Shulikin told Vestnik Kavkaza that the team hopes for medals.

- What is your team’s spirit before the competition? Who will represent Azerbaijan? On whom do you pin your hopes?

- Our team is represented by four men and two women: the bronze medalist of the First European Games ‘Baku-2015’ Ilya Grishunin, the gold medal winner of the Open Championship Oleg Piunov, Dmitry Fedorov, Ruslan Agamirov and the finalists of the European Games ‘Baku-2015’ Svetlana Makshtarova and Sabina Zaitseva. We go to the tournament in a good mood, because it is the first experience of such events in Baku. Home walls always help, we want to perform well, because the audience will be watching us. In addition, this is an important competition. Many guests have arrived. We want to show ourselves and Azerbaijan, because trampoline has been evolving here for only three years. We want to attract young people to the sport, we want children to come. Still, it is an Olympic sport.

- How do you estimate your chances of a medal?

- The competition will be very high, especially among men. Our leader is Ilya Grishunin. He has a chance to compete for a medal. But it will be difficult, of course. Ilya was the winner of the European Games, he is already known. I think he will show a good result, but again, everything will depend on the mental attitude. Trampoline is a sport, where not only physical form is important. Grishunin and Piunov also have a good chance to compete for medals in synchronized performance. Makshtarova can compete for the finals.

- Who are your main competitors?

- The key competitors are Russian and Belarusian athletes. This is Dmitry Ushakov, a silver medalist of the Olympic Games in London. This is the Belarusian Vladislav Goncharov, who was second in the last World Cup. The Russian Andrey Yudin is a bronze medalist of the Trampoline World Cup. Among girls there are Petrenya Tatiana from Belarus, the last World Cup’s medalist, Anna Gorchenok. A very serious team arrived. Only the Chinese and Canadians did not arrive. For the rest, it is quite a good level. We will fight.

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