An Azerbaijani gymnast Ekaterina Prokopenko has become a silver medalist of the international tournament held in Germany.

According to the press service of Azerbaijan Gymnastics Federation, a 12-year-old gymnast of Baku won the second place in the all-around having lost only to a Russian M. Kochetkova. According to the head coach of the country’s national team, “she is contented with the performances of a young gymnast.” “A Russian, taken the first place, is preparing for the European Championships-2010, and you know, Katya was competing with her as equals,” the coach emphasized.

Lala Yusifova and Jala Garatova, who failed to be included into the first three places of the final, competed in the same category and in the age group 1995.

The medal start of Prokopenko was kept only by an Azerbijani junior group team. It is a completely new collective consisting of 4 gymnasts selected by the judges’ board for the participation in the European Championships of the next year and acquiring a right to compete at the Youth Olympic Games in Singapore.

The quartet’s debut turned out to be successful: Aliya Pashayeva, Irada Ahadzada, Mansura Mehdiyeva and Madina Hasanova (all born in 1995) took the third place according to the results of an exercise with 4 ribbons. As it was also mentioned by the head coach, Mariana Vasileva, the girls could have performed better but a lack of skill and nervousness had an influence on their performance. “Upon arrival in Baku, the team will further work on exercise with ribbons and “study” a new exercise with 4 hoops,” M. Vasileva summed up.