Azerbaijani women’s pair in acrobatic gymnastics is continuing its successful performances on the threshold of the European Championships to be held in Portugal in October. Following the silver medal of the World Games, Ayla Ahmadova and Dilara Sultanova have become vice-holders of the World Cup in Veliky Novgorod.

According to the press service of Azerbaijan Gymnastics Federation, the pair, trained by Irada Gurbanova, executed a mixed program with more confidence than a Belgian duet and took the lead over the representatives of Benelux, Florence Henrist - Tatiana de Vos. Present European Champions from Belarus – Alina Yushko and Ekaterina Murashko will set out for the forthcoming Euro tournament as the winners of the competitions, the homeland of which hosted another World Cup series but in rhythmic gymnastics this time.

Zeynab Javadli represented Azerbaijan in the “Crystal rose” international tournament held in Minsk. Having received 100.2 points in the all-around total, 18-year-old gymnast from Baku won the bronze medal following two Russian gymnasts of her age.

A gymnast of a neighboring country, namely an Olympic champion Evgeniya Kanayeva, took the first places in the World Cup series as well. Performing in this tournament, Aliya Garayeva reached the tree finals according to the qualification results. She gave her best result in exercise with a ribbon where she took the 4th place with 26.8 points received. Aliya shared 5-6th places (26.3) with a rope, and took the 7th place with a hoop (26.48).

An Azerbaijani group team also competed in two finals of two possible ones. The collective received 25.7 points in the final with 5 hoops and took the 5th place. The performance with 3 ribbons / 2 ropes was less successful – 24.15 points and the 8th place. Both finals were won by Russian gymnasts. According to the all-around results, an Azerbaijani team took the 7th place among 19 groups.

The tournament in Belarus became the last one on the threshold of the World Championships in Japan (Mie, September 7-13). The countries gymnasts Aliya Garayeva, Anna Gurbanova, Zeynab Javadli and Samira Mustafayeva will hold their final training camp in Tokyo from August 25 to September 2, and the group will train at the capital’s Olympic sports complex.

One more tournament was held in the capital of Belarus last week. A 14-year-old Elvin Aghadadayev, who is taking part in the training camp at the “Stayki” sports base, performed at the Minsk Open Championship. Having received 77 points, our young gymnast became the first among the gymnasts from Minsk and other gymnasts of his age representing other cities. The next international tournament in artistic gymnastics will be “Bosphorus” Cup to be held in Istanbul on September 5-6.