The 24th Baku Championship and Azerbaijan Championship among Age Categories in Men’s and Women’s Artistic Gymnastics, as well as the 24th Azerbaijan Championship among Age Categories in Acrobatic Gymnastics are being held at the National Gymnastics Arena in Baku. The senior coach of the national Azerbaijani team Nina Pravdina and the director of the competitions Natalia Bulanova told Vestnik Kavkaza about the development of these sports in the republic.
First of all, Natalia Bulanova noted the development of men's gymnastics in the regions of Azerbaijan. "Sumgait is participating in this tournament in men's gymnastics, as well as Zirya, which has been actively developing this kind of sport recently. In general, these competitions give a very big impetus to children's sports, as the number of small athletes increases every year. It speaks of the popularization of gymnastics in Azerbaijan," she said.
That is why so many gymnastic competitions are organized in Azerbaijan. "This year we took three World Cups - in trampoline, artistic gymnastics and rhythmic gymnastics. It encourages children to do sports and attracts interest from the public," Natalia Bulanova stressed.
It is important to work with spectators and parents of children, so they can understand the modern rules of gymnastics. "We show elements , and the presenter tells how do we call them, how it is done and evaluated by judges, so that people recognize the elements during the performances," the director of the competitions noted.
Nina Pravdina drew attention to the fact that artistic gymnastics has only started to be developed in Azerbaijan, an active recruitment of children to younger age groups is underway. "Artistic gymnastics in Azerbaijan exists only 2.5 years, and it is a very short period for the development of large gymnastics, which requires expensive equipment and a large gym. Of course, gymnastics will be further developed in the republic, as it has the main condition - healthy children," the senior trainer stressed.
Men's gymnastics are still in the best condition in the republic, than women's. "For example, about 35-36 girls from Baku, Sumgait and Zirya participate in this tournament, and there are many more boys than girls participating," she said.
At the same time, it is essential that Azerbaijan has very comfortable conditions for the development of gymnastics. "Local children have very good physical capacity, in addition, there are big families here. And I also want to thank all those who develop gymnastics in Azerbaijan - the first vice president of the republic, the president of the Azerbaijan Gymnastics Federation Mehriban Aliyeva, the vice-president of the European Union of Gymnastics, AGF General Secretary Farid Gaibov, AGF Vice-President Altai Hasanov and head coach of the national team Mariana Vasileva," Nina Pravdina concluded.
