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Vice-President of the European Union of Gymnastics (UEG), Secretary General of Azerbaijan Gymnastics Federation (AGF) Farid Gayibov commented on the performances of Azerbaijani athletes in the Open Joint Azerbaijan Championships in Gymnastics Disciplines that kicked off in Baku on March 4.

He expressed satisfaction with the performances of Azerbaijani athletes Oleg Stepko and Kristina Pravdina who took the first places in the artistic gymnastics competitions among men and women, respectively.

“Although Pravdina won the gold medal, we expected higher results from other athletes as well,” the AGF secretary general told Trend.

He said that there are a number of strong athletes among the participants of the current competitions.

Gayibov said Stepko is in good shape, adding that Azerbaijani athletes should be in perfect physical form for the First European Games, since there are all the necessary conditions.

The secretary general added the results of Azerbaijani athletes give reason to hope that they will actively compete for winning medals in the First European Games.

Furthermore, he said that the issues related to preparations for the First European Games will be discussed again.

Open Joint Azerbaijan Championships in Gymnastics Disciplines will continue till March 6. This is the test championship on the eve of the First European Games.

Coming from 22 countries, 133 gymnasts are competing for medals in both the all-around and individual competitions.

The European Games themselves will be hosted in Baku on June 12-28, 2015. There will be a total of 20 sports at Baku 2015: 16 Olympic sports and four non-Olympic sports.

More than 6,000 athletes from across Europe will be representing their nations over 17 days of competition. Baku was awarded the games by the European Olympic Committees (EOC) in December 2012.

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