Head coach of the Azerbaijani rhythmic gymnastics national team, Marianna Vasileva, is always ready to help foreign gymnasts, Finnish gymnast Jouki Tikkanen said in an interview with Vestnik Kavkaza after performing in the hoop qualifying competitions at the 37th Rhythmic Gymnastics World Championship in Baku.
“I visit Baku a lot, I have been here many times at the World Cups and the European Championship. I also train with Mariana Vasileva. She produced this performance with hoop. Mariana is a very good and kind coach, she is always ready to help," she said.
“Azerbaijani gymnasts are very strong, they work very hard. When I came here to train, I saw how hard they work. They motivated me to work even more,” Finnish gymnast admitted.
The 37th Rhythmic Gymnastics World Championships will last until Sept. 22. The first day of the competitions will see qualifications in an individual program, and gymnasts will perform in the exercises with a hoop and a ball.
The Championships are the qualification competition for the Olympic Games to be held in Tokyo in 2020. So, the first 16 individual gymnasts (max. two gymnasts per country) in the all-around ranking will qualify for the Games.
More than 300 gymnasts from 61 countries will compete for nine sets of medals. “Fairy Tales will come to life" is the motto of the championships.
