The 31st European Rhythmic Gymnastics Championships opened at the Minsk Arena today at 10:00 local time. 25 teams will compete for the right to be called champions of the continental championship, among them - teams from Russia, Azerbaijan, Turkey and Armenia. The opening ceremony of the Rhythmic Gymnastics European Championships will be held at 18:15 at the Minsk Arena.
The juniors, who will compete in a group exercise with five balls, will show their skills first. The sequence of performance of juniors will be: the Netherlands, Belarus, Andorra, Spain, Turkey, Finland, Greece, Cyprus, Russia, Czech Republic, Latvia, Switzerland, Austria, Azerbaijan, Bulgaria, Norway, Armenia, Lithuania, Ukraine, Slovakia, Germany, Israel, Hungary, Poland, Italy.
Following the juniors, the seniors will arrive at the arena, medals will be played for in the team competition, as well as in four types of exercises - hoop, ball, clubs and ribbon, and there won't be individual events.
The most interesting performances are expected in Group A, which contains the strongest gymnasts of the world - Russians Yana Kudryavtseva, Margarita Mamun and Alexandra Soldatova, Azerbaijani Marina Durunda, Israeli Neta Rivkin and Ukrainian Anna Rizatdinova. Tomorrow the seniors will perform with clubs and ribbon.
During the competitions two sets of medals among juniors will be held and five sets among seniors.
Russia is represented at the competitions by the juniors Kseniya Polyakova, Angelina Shkatova, Anastasia Kalabina, Ekaterina Fedorova, Irina Pintail and Maria Kravtsova, along with the seniors Kudryavtseva, Mamun and Soldatova.
The Azerbaijani junior team, which includes Ilaha Mammadova, Zuleiha Ismayilova, Daria Sorokina, Simara Jafarova and Fatima Jafarova, will perform a number to the legendary song Smooth Criminal by Michael Jackson.
