Coach Lala Magerramova spoke about preparing her athletes Narmina Samedova, Maryam Safarova, Nazrin Jafarzade, Eleonora Yusifova, Farida Sefiyarzade and Seljan Hajizadeh for performing at the opening ceremony of the 4th Islamic Games in Baku.
"We trained a lot. We learned about the whole idea of the opening ceremony in advance so that girls could understand everything and prepare properly. The opening ceremony was meant to show that even little girl can have hidden power," she said.
First Vice President of Azerbaijan, President of the Azerbaijan Gymnastics Federation, Mehriban Aliyeva, personally came to see the final rehearsal.
Girls themselves admitted that while they were scared at first, they got used to everything. "The rehearsals were a little bit scary, but during the opening ceremony there was no fear - everyone clapped and we were happy," they said.
The 4th Islamic Solidarity Games are held in Baku from May 8 to 22. Athletes will compete at 16 sports facilities in 20 types of sports - 17 Olympic and three non-Olympic ones. Competitions in artistic and rhythmic gymnastics were included in the program of Islamic Solidarity Games for the first time at the initiative of the First Vice President of Azerbaijan, President of the Azerbaijan Gymnastics Federation, Mehriban Aliyeva."