The Azerbaijani national team in trampolining is going to the World Cup of the International Gymnastics Federation, which starts tomorrow at the National Gymnastics Arena in Baku, in a good mood, the head coach of the national team, Vladimir Shulikin, told Vestnik Kavkaza today.
"Our team is represented by 4 men and 2 women. All of them - Ilya Grishunin, Oleg Piunov, Ruslan Agamirov, Dmitry Fedorovsky, Svetlana Makshtarova and Sabina Zaitseva - will perform in individual and synchronous programs, just like Svetlana Makshtarova and Sabina Zaitseva - only in synchronous. We are going there in a good mood, because the World Cup is being held in Baku for the first time, and home walls always help, besides, they want to show themselves, perform great for our viewers, who will watch us and support," he stressed.
The national team will also try to perform as well as possible because of the level of the tournament. "It's a responsible competition, which is attended by a huge number of guests. We need to show ourselves and Azerbaijan, because trampolining is only being developed here for three years. We want to attract as many people as possible to this sport, so that parents bring their kids to us. Especially since trampolining is an Olympic sport," Vladimir Shulikin pointed out.
The head coach expects a high level of competition, especially in men's performances. "Our leader, Ilya Grishunin, has a chance to compete for a medal. He was the medalist of the first European Games in Baku, he is already known. I think If everything goes well he will show a good result. Of course, everything will depend on psychology, because it is this kind of sport: you can be one hundred percent in good shape, but psychologically tremble a little bit, and make a mistake. Let's hope that everything will be fine," he noted.
In addition to a medal in the men's individual, the team hopes for other awards. "They have a good chance of competing for a medal in men's synchronous jumps, Grishunin-Piunov. From the girls, Makshtarova can reach the individual finals, and there is a certain chance in the women's synchronous competition," the head coach expects.
The main competition for the Azerbaijani team are gymnasts from Russia and Belarus. "I am talking about Dmitry Ushakov, Olympic silver medalist in London, Andrey Yudin, bronze medalist of the World Cup, Vladislav Goncharov, who was second at the last World Cup. Among the girls are Tatiana Petrenya, medalist of the World Cup, and Anna Gorchenok. In other words, very serious teams came to us for the World Cup, The Chinese and Canadians are missing. In general, the level of competition is pretty good, and we will fight for medals," Vladimir Shulikin concluded
