European gymnasts launch training in Baku

/By AzerNews/

By Amina Nazarli

Azerbaijan’s capital Baku will host one of the main sporting events of this year in just two days. The inaugural European Games will be held on June 12-28 with 6,000 athletes from around 50 countries.

Sportsmen of many European countries have already arrived in Baku to start their main trainings ahead of Baku 2015.

One of the sports included in the Baku 2015 is gymnastics: rhythmic, aerobic and acrobatic which will be held from June 17 to 21 in Baku.

Gymnasts from Slovenia, Romania and Croatia have launched their training at the Baku Gymnastics School. Romanian team in aerobics is the main contender for the gold medal of the Games.

“The school’s gyms create a big opportunity for training of athletes in aerobics, men's and women's artistic gymnastics,” Shahin Kazimzada, the deputy director of the school said.

The National Gymnastics Arena, a venue for the gymnastics sports, will open on June 11, a day before the Games opening ceremony.

The establishment of Azerbaijani rhythmic gymnastic school dates back to the 1940s. The history of origin of non-Olympic sports - acrobatics which includes trampoline and tumbling, began in the 1920-30s. This sports could become popular enough in the country in a very short period of time and ultimately resulted in the foundation of the Azerbaijan Gymnastics Federation in 1956.

After Azerbaijan gained independence in 1991, the National Federation of Gymnastics became a member of the International Gymnastics Federation in 1993, and the European Union of Gymnastics in 1996.

Designed to host rhythmic and artistic gymnastics competitions, the National Gymnastics Arena opened in 2014 to provide for training of gymnasts for international tournaments.

Baku was honored to host the Games by the European Olympic Committees in December 2012.