An interview conducted by Day.Az with Azerbaijani acrobats – Ayla Ahmadova and Dilara Sultanova, as well as with their coach Irada Gurbanova, whose gymnasts have won a victory in a splendid manner at the European Championships in Portugal.

“We congratulate you on your perfect performance and historical success. You won the silver and gold medals on Saturday. Did you expect that you would have achieved such high results?”

Ayla Ahmadova: “We prepared well for the European Championships, and our previous performances at the World Games and World Cup gave cause for optimism.”

Dilara Sultanova: “To say the truth, in contrast to those competitions, we succeeded in taking the first place this time. It is great! We are very glad!”

Irada Gurbanova: “Feelings are indescribable! And it gave a skin the shivers while the national anthem of Azerbaijan sounded. It is impossible to convey these feelings by words. It is the first time when Azerbaijani acrobatics achieves such a result.”

“As it was during the past events, sportswomen from Belarus and Belgium were your main rivals. How did you manage to take the lead over them?”

Ayla Ahmadova: “We had a very long way to this success. Our efforts were not in vain. If there were times when some faults in our performances did not enable us to win, we had succeeded this time. We took the lead over very strong rivals. For example, acrobats from Belarus are two-time World Champions.”

Dilara Sultanova: “We won the gold medal in the final of tempo exercise, but we could have become the winner in the balance exercise as well. We needed just 0.07 points in order to win.”

“Did the people at the European Championships are astonished at successes of the pair from Azerbaijan?”

Irada Gurbanova: “No. We have been performing at large-scale competitions for a long time. Many people are glad that we achieved great success at last.”

Ayla Ahmadova: “Many people sympathize with us here. They come up, congratulate us on our victory.”

Dilara Sultanova: “The viewers supported us in Portugal. They know our pair well.”

“You have to perform in the all-around on Sunday. Won’t you relax after these breath-taking successes?”

Ayla Ahmadova: “On the contrary, we will perform with a good mood. This victory has filled us with enthusiasm.”

Irada Gurbanova: “The main thing for us is to have enough physical strength in order to endure this tense competing schedule. We will do our best to continue our successful performance.”

“You have been preparing for these European Championships in Tashkent. How was the training camp there?

Irada Gurbanova: “We usually go to Belarus or Russia, but the halls had already been occupied there at that time, as their sportsmen were also preparing for the European championships at full speed. Therefore, we decided to set out for beyond the bounds of Europe. We chose Tashkent. We were provided with the hall. This training camp helped us very much. Our efforts made there were not in vain.”

“Do the stable high results demonstrated at the last large-scale competitions allow us to call our pair one of the leaders of the world acrobatics?”

Ayla Ahmadova: “Without a false modesty, yes. We have proved that we are a part of this elite.”

Irada Grubanova: “Now, we have to try to hold our positions. With the support rendered to us by Azerbaijan Gymnastics Federation headed by the First lady, Mrs Mehriban Aliyeva, it will be considerably easier to do it. I congratulate our Federation and the country’s whole sports community on this historical achievement. We will do our best to make glad with our further results.