Baku, April 23 (AZERTAC). Budapest has hosted an international tournament in rhythmic gymnastics, which was attended by Azerbaijani sportswomen.

According to the press service for the Azerbaijan Gymnastics Federation, the Azerbaijani gymnasts won 21 medals. 14-15-year-old juniors won 13 awards, main of which was the gold medal in team competition (Mansoura Bagieva, Marina Durunda, Gulsum Safizada and Nilufyar Niftaliyeva).

In addition, Bagieva unconditionally won the finals with a hoop, Durunda was better than all competitors with the ball, Safizada proved a master-class with a ribbon and only Niftaliyeva was second with clubs.

Their younger teammates were also not left without a medal of the hospitable Hungarian land. Thus, Jala Piriyeva (born in 2000) won the tournament in all-around finals, and with the ball, and also received "silver" for the exercises with hoop and ribbon. Her peer Zuleikha Ismailova knew the joy of victory in the finals with a ribbon. She became second with a ball, while the hoop and all-round events gave her junior bronze medals. As for the competition seniors, Zeynab Javadli was really good there. She took two "silver" for the hoop and ribbon. In contrast to the more experienced friend Lala Yusifova has the complete set of awards: the first two places (hoop and ribbon), two second (all-around and the ball) and bronze with clubs. The only one who stood up to the podium just once was Aisha Mustafayeva - the third in ball.

Head coach Mariana Vasileva expressed satisfaction with the results of the wards. "On the eve of the European Championships our juniors did not only perform well but were evaluated by experts at very high rates. Marina Durunda won two gold awards in her debut and high scores for the ball - 26.885 points. After a year break Aisha Mustafayev made it clear that the coaching corps can rely on her in the future. Zeinab Javadli is back on the carpet and this is encouraging, and Lala Yusifova proved that she is growing with each tournament and has already earned a name for herself. I believe that the motivation in the team will be even greater after the start, the Bulgarian specialist said.