FIG World Cup: Azerbaijan welcomes top gymnasts

The 2023 FIG Artistic Gymnastics World Cup has started at the National Gymnastics Arena.

After the parade of the teams, head of the Sports Department at the Ministry of Youth and Sports Elnur Mammadov welcomed the guests of the event, Azernews reports.

In his speech, Mammadov underlined that the FIG World Cup competitions were organized for the eighth time in Azerbaijan.

He recalled that the FIG Artistic Gymnastics World Challenge Cup AGF Trophy was held in Baku for the first time in 2016.

Since 2017, the FIG World Cup competitions have traditionally been successfully held in Azerbaijan.

He noted that the country's men's sports gymnastics started its development in 2002, when the Azerbaijan Gymnastics Federation was re-established, and the development of women's sports gymnastics resumed at the end of 2013.

"In the past years, the country has achieved successes in sports gymnastics.

Azerbaijani gymnasts represented the country at London-2012, Rio-2016, Tokyo-2020 Summer Olympic Games, and were among the winners of the European and world championships," said Elnur Mammadov.

He recalled that Azerbaijan won one gold, two silver and two bronze medals at the 2015 European Games held in Baku.

Furthermore, the national gymnasts captured five gold, five silver and two bronze medals at 2017 Islamic Solidarity Games held in Azerbaijan as well as one gold, two silver and one bronze at 2022 Islamic Solidarity Games held in Turkiye.

"For the first time in the history of national gymnastics, our representative qualified for the final round of the 2022 European Women's Artistic Gymnastics Championships and European Youth Summer Olympic Festival last year," said the head of the department.

E. Mammadov stressed that President of Azerbaijan, head of the National Olympic Committee Ilham Aliyev pays special attention to the sports development in Azerbaijan.

Thanks to the attention of Azerbaijan's First Vice-President of the Azerbaijan Gymnastics Federation Mehriban Aliyeva, many large-scale gymnastics competitions are being held in the republic every year.

He added that around 173 gymnasts from 48 countries are taking part in the 2023 FIG Artistic Gymnastics World Cup organized on the eve of the 100th anniversary of national leader Heydar Aliyev.

This is a record indicator for the number of participating countries in the history of gymnastics the FIG World Cup competitions held in Azerbaijan.

On behalf of the Ministry of Youth and Sports, Elnur Mammadov wished success to the gymnasts.

Besides that, Azerbaijan National Anthem was played as part of the opening ceremony.

It is significant to note that the 2023 FIG Artistic Gymnastics World Cup will run until March 12.

Qualifying stages will take place on March 9-10, while the finals are scheduled for March 11-12.

The gymnasts who score the highest score will be awarded the AGF Trophy Cup.

The 2023 FIG World Cup circuit in Artistic Gymnastics is a series of competitions officially organized and promoted by the International Gymnastics Federation (FIG) in 2023.

The World Cup series is organized in Germany, Qatar, Azerbaijan, and Egypt.