TODAY.AZ / Sports

National gymnasts rely on their fans

11 June 2015 [09:18] - TODAY.AZ

/By AzerNews/

By Amina Nazarli

Two national gymnasts Marina Durunda and Oleg Stepko who will represent the country in the inaugural European Games which is scheduled for June 12-28 in Baku shared their anticipation prior to the Games.

It’s a big honor for every sportsmen to participate in the first-ever European Games, Marina toldTrend on June 9.

She said Azerbaijani gymnasts are training too hard to take a best title during the Games.

“We feel ourselves very responsible to this great sports event. It is a big honor for every sportsman to compete in such a large-scale event. I will do my best to gladden my fans, Azerbaijanis, our Gymnastics Federation and main coach,” she said.

She also expects to perform each element very accurately.

“I would like to show perfect performance. When an athlete shows good performance the judges estimate him/her on maximum. I hope the judges will be fair and we will have good results,” she said adding that national gymnasts will surprise sport lovers.

She called on everyone to support the gymnasts. "It is important to come in a good mood. The support and warmth of our fans will make us more convenient, happier and more comfortable to perform at the domestic arena,” she underlined.

Oleg, for his part, intends to achieve the best result at the European Games.

”It is not easy to prepare for such competitions,” he told Trend.

The gymnast said that there is even higher responsibility when an athlete performs at home. “Performing at home where everyone including your friends are supporting you is always cool,” Oleg said.

The gymnast also spoke about his preparations, noting that he had good results in the test tournament and World Cup in Bulgaria. Oleg succeeded to become the top winner in the World Cup in Qatar. He came fourth in the European Championship.

“We will take our utmost to show an excellent performance. The main advantage of this competition is that a total of 18 athletes will perform at the qualifying round instead of 24, as usual. Only six best sportsmen will win a ticket to the final (only one gymnast from each team). That’s why reaching the finals will be difficult enough,” Stepko noted.

The gymnast talked about some changes made in his performance.

“Competitions in gymnastics during the Games ends on June 20 and I'm flying to the World Universiade Games in Korea on June 27 to join the qualification game on July 4-5. It’s really very difficult period, he said. “After the Universiade I will have about one and a half months of rest. Then I'll be ready to complicate my program, since it will be necessary to prepare for tournaments to be qualified for the Rio 2016 Olympic Games.”

Stepko said he relies on the support of fans. "Scream louder, and we will do the rest," he stressed.

A total of 20 sports will be played at Baku 2015 including 16 Olympic sports and four non-Olympic sports.

More than 6,000 athletes from across Europe will join the Baku 2015 Games, which is to last 17 days.

Eleven of the sports will offer qualification opportunities for Rio 2016 Olympic Games. Those sports include Archery, Athletics, Boxing, Cycling, Shooting, Swimming, Table Tennis, Taekwondo, Triathlon, Volleyball and Wrestling.

URL: http://www.today.az/news/sports/141347.html

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