The members of the Olympic national team of Azerbaijan in rhythmic gymnastics Aliya Garayeva and Dinara Gimatova (both are individual gymnasts), as well as the members of the group team – Vafa Huseynova, Anna Bitieva, Valeriya Yegay, Alina Trepina, Anastasiya Prasolova and Dina Gorina held their first training at Beijing University of Technology Gymnasium on August 18. The arena, located in the south-east of Beijing, can seat 7,5 thousand people for watching Olympic tournament in rhythmic gymnastics. According to the information provided by Azerbaijan Olympic Delegation’s headquarters, the last trainings in Beijing, which are necessary for getting accustomed to the floor, present a logical continuation of individual gymnasts’ final training camp in Tokyo and the group team’s final training camp in Masalli. The trainings will also be held on August 19 and August 20, which will be watched not only by the coaches. At present, the judges are making their notes on lists of exercises submitted by the coaches. I

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hould be mentioned that Larisa Sidorova from Azerbaijan, who received a special invitation from the International Gymnastics Federation, is also among the judges. The events will start at 15:00 (Baku time) on August 21. And individual gymnasts will perform first on the Chinese floor. According to the draw, Aliya Garayeva and Dinara Gimatova will begin their performances with a hoop under the sequence number 8 and 12 in the qualification of the all-around. As to the group team, it will perform with 5 ropes under the sequence number 8 among the 12 collectives in the qualification of the all-around. In order to take part in the final of the all-around, individual gymnasts need to find themselves in the list of first ten gymnasts, and the group team needs to be included into the list of 8 strongest gymnasts. And a grand Gala performance will precede the Olympic competition. The show will be held on August 20 with the participation of many well-known sportsmen, representing all three Olympic gymnastics

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ciplines. In this Gala performance, Azerbaijan will be represented by Aliya Garayeva. And on the day of the Olympic Games Opening, an influential “Eindhovens Dagblad” Dutch newspaper published a report with photos regarding group team of Azerbaijan on its pages. It was dedicated to the activity of the National Gymnastics Federation and sportswomen’s preparation for the Olympiad. It especially attracted the attention of the Dutch TV-men. So, one of the local channels RTL 4 filmed the shop, where the sportswear for Azerbaijan Gymnastics Federation had been ordered. The next day, the delegation from Azerbaijan-Holland Foundation visited the shop and as a gift presented to the shop manager several books about Azerbaijani cuisine translated into the Dutch.