Azernews.Az

By Amina Nazarli

The 26^th International Bosphorus Artistic Gymnastics Tournament was held in Istanbul, Turkey on September 5-7.

Azerbaijan's gymnastics team took part in the competition which was very fruitful for the national athletes in terms of medal.

Azerbaijan won 17 medals, namely five gold medals, eight silver medals and four bronze medals at the tournament.

Only four gold medals were won by the women's team member Anna Pavlova. Her amazing performance on the parallel bars, balance beam and in jumping brought the first place to the team.

Aside from that, Pavlova took the first place in all-around competition. She was followed by other members of Azerbaijani team - Marina Nekrasova, Yulia Inshina and Maria Smirnova.

Azerbaijan's champion, Marina Nekrasova came in second in jumping and third in the floor exercise, while Yulia Inshina won silver medal in the floor exercise and a bronze medal in the balance beam.

The men's team also excelled at the competition in Istanbul, winning eight medals. The gold medal was won by Peter Pahnyuk, who gave an excellent performance on the parallel bars. He also won the bronze medal in the vaulting horse.

Oleg Stepko, another Azerbaijani champion won four silver medals in the parallel bars, horizontal bar, vaulting horse, and in the floor exercise.

In team standings, Pahnyuk, Stepko, Ruslan Namazov and Ugur Khalilbeyli won the silver medal, beating the Bulgarian team. The gold medal was won by Turkish gymnasts.

Azerbaijani athletes are supposed to take part in the coming world championship in artistic gymnastics, which will be held in China in early October.