Gymnasts save Azerbaijan from rough start at Universiade Once again at their best

Azerbaijani rhythmic gymnasts caused a real sensation at the World University Games (Universiade) in Germany, winning two out of three possible gold medals in group exercises.

Last Saturday, the Azerbaijan rhythmic gymnastics team (Yelizaveta Luzan, Darya Sorokina, Kamilla Aliyeva, Laman Alimuradova, and Gully Aghalarzade) took first place in the final with five ribbons, scoring 22.850 points. Ukraine came in second, and the South Korean quintet took third.

Our girls also competed in another final—with three balls and two hoops. Here the team finished second, scoring 23.950 points, behind their “eternal” rivals—the Ukrainians (24.100). The bronze went to the Taiwanese group. And since we had already won the all-around competition, the result shown by the Azerbaijani quintet is truly impressive—two gold medals out of three plus a silver.

However, unfortunately, the positive news from German soil for Azerbaijani fans ends here…

In table tennis, we lost every match and to all opponents possible, and the widely publicised work of the domestic Table Tennis Federation turned out to be nothing but a “soap bubble.”

Things were a bit better in tennis, the revival of which many in Azerbaijan only learned about here at the World Universiade. Our duo, Kenan Gasimov and Elvin Hashimov, lost both in doubles and singles matches, but it’s good that they appeared at all after half a century, considering that since the times of the legendary Azerbaijani tennis players Sergey Likhachev and Ramiz Akhmerov—well known even beyond the former USSR—we had no men’s tennis pair at all. Let’s consider this a first “attempt” that, although unsuccessful, still made its presence known. And once Ramiz Akhmerov won the Student Universiade, and Likhachev reached the semifinals of Roland Garros in 1966!

Our taekwondo athletes have also been disappointing so far. The best result among them was by Taleh Suleymanov, who reached the quarterfinals in the under-80 kg weight category. He defeated opponents from Denmark and Germany but then lost to a Ukrainian competitor.

Rakhid Veliyev (58 kg) was unlucky with the draw. After defeating a taekwondo athlete from Oman in the round of 16, he faced a South Korean opponent, against whom, as they say, he had no chance.

Samarrukh Osmanova (49 kg) lost her first fight in the round of 32, losing to a Japanese taekwondo athlete. We hope that Monday will be more fruitful than the weekend.

In fencing, the Azerbaijani men’s sabre team and women’s épée team also ended up without medals. The épée team defeated Saudi Arabia in the round of 32 but then lost to Ukraine. The sabre team beat Kazakhstan in the round of 16 but lost to Japan in the quarterfinals, and later in placement matches for 5th to 8th place, lost to Germany and Spain, ultimately finishing 8th.

As for the overall team ranking, thanks to the efforts of our gymnasts, we are starting the new week in seventh place. Leading the medal table are the USA, followed by Germany and China.

Nevertheless, I am confident that the new week will still bring us at least a couple more gold medals to keep us in the top ten.

Vugar Vugarli, exclusively for Caliber.Az