An Azerbaijani gymnast Anna Gurbanova has won two fourth places at the Grand Prix series held in Brno, the Czech Republic.

According to the press-service of Azerbaijan Gymnastics Federation, performing in the finals with a rope and a ball, our sportswoman, who received 25.55 and 25.2 points accordingly, had been taking the fourth places. In two other finals – with a hoop and a ribbon she had been the eights among the Grand Prix’s strongest gymnasts. And having received 98.3 points, Gurbanova took the 7th place in total of the all-around.

A Russian Yevgeniya Kanayeva, the champion of the Olympic Games in Beijing, became the winner. She also took the first places in three finals with separate apparatus.

Concurrently with the tournament in central Europe, the international event called Baltic Hoop took place in the continent’s north-eastern part, namely in Riga, where a gymnast Samira Mustafayeva participated in.

Having also received a right to perform with separate apparatus in accordance with the qualification results, she reached the final with a rope and a ball. Mustafayeva took the 5th places in both exercises (23.467 and 23.2 points).

According to a judge of international category Nurlana Alizada, our gymnast demonstrated good performance in the finals and lost only 0.2 points to a sportswoman taken the third places.

While the gymnasts are performing in different tournaments and preparing for the main championships of the half year – European Championships in Baku, there has been defined a detailed schedule and number of participating countries of the forthcoming Euro-2009, two months prior to its beginning.

Thus, individual gymnasts’ competitions and solemn opening ceremony will take place on May 15, the championships’ first day. The next day, individual gymnasts will complete their performances in a team competition, and junior group teams’ qualification will also take place. Finally, there will be five finals on May 17: four finals among individual gymnasts and one among groups (5 ribbons). The championships will be completed by Gala with participation of the world’s best gymnasts.

In all, about 200 gymnasts from 32 countries will come to Baku for participation in the 25th European Championships. Gymnasts of 31 countries will perform in the individual tournament, and 17 teams of the Old World will compete in the junior groups’ tournament. Euro-2009 will be the first important event in a new Olympic cycle. The best gymnasts’ competitions will be held at Sports-concert Complex named after Heydar Aliyev.