Azerbaijan aspires to become the leader of the world gymnastics, Vice-President of the European Union of Gymnastics, Secretary General of Azerbaijan’s Gymnastics Federation, Farid Gaibov, said in an interview with a ‘Vestnik Kavkaza’ correspondent, commenting on preparations for the final World Cup FIG Rhythmic Gymnastics, which is to take place in Baku on July 22-24th.
First of all, he pointed out that this tenth and last year's FIG World Cup will be the final opportunity for competitors to step on the podium at the end of the season. "Four best results of each athlete will be determined following the results of these ten World Cups. After that the winner of the World Cup will be announced. The winner will be awarded the Cup of the International Federation here in Baku. In addition, according to our tradition, we will also award an athlete the Cup of Azerbaijan Gymnastics Federation for the best performance," vVce-president of the European Union of Gymnastics said.
Farid Gaibov stressed that all issues have been resolved in terms of the organization of the FIG World Cup in Rhythmic Gymnastics. "Our organizing committee is working intensively, and we are ready for the competition. Let me remind you that the gymnastic complex was built for us by the state in 2014. The European Rhythmic Gymnastics Championships took place there and competitions in the context of the First European Games were also organized there last year. No problems with the organization. Everything is going according to our plans,’’ he noted.
AGF Secretary General pointed to unique conditions in Azerbaijan for the development of gymnastics. "Both local and international athletes of all six types of gymnastics can train in our gym complex. The fact that we have this complex means that we have become one of the leaders in gymnastics. There are countries with old tradition in gymnastics, but we are on the way to form our own school right here and now. New disciplines appeared in the past few years: women's artistic gymnastics, trampoline, aerobic, which were not developed in Azerbaijan earlier. In this regard, we organize international competitions that can popularize these kinds of sport,’’ Farid Gaibov said.
"I would like to point out that, according to the FIG assessment system, the Azerbaijan Gymnastics Federation is in the top five gymnastic federations in the world. The assessment system counts points that organizations receive for the organization of international competitions, referee and coaching courses and other events," Vice-president of the European Union of Gymnastics noted.
AGF will start preparations for the new season and the new Olympic cycle immediately after the Olympic Games in Rio. "We have plans to organize various international referee courses in the next cycle, as they will be necessary in order to judges could work at the competition. As for such Olympic disciplines as acrobatics and aerobics, these are new kinds of sport for us, and we need to achieve certain results in order to has an opportunity to organize cups and train new athletes in the future. Certainly, we will hold international competitions in this kind of sport," Farid Gaibov said.
"The Final World FIG Cup in rhythmic gymnastics will be the last major international competition in Baku till the end of the year, but a number of local events, above all, the Azerbaijan Championship will take place in our country. Some neighboring countries will participate in these tournaments. A lot of countries want to participate in our local competitions today and many foreign gymnasts are regularly accommodated at the training camp in Baku,’’ the Secretary General of the Azerbaijan gymnastics Federation concluded.
