The capital of Azerbaijan will see tomorrow the opening of the First European Games which will last until June 28. As is known, Ukraine will be represented at this prestigious competition by 234 athletes in 19 out of 20 sports. In particular, among the national team’s leading participants will be Olha Kharlan (fencing), Olena Kostevych (shooting sport), Viktor Ruban (archery), and Oleh Verniaiev (gymnastics). A total 6,000 athletes from 49 countries of Europe will compete in Baku for victory in such sports as badminton, 3x3 basketball (streetball), boxing, wrestling, cycling, aquatics (water polo, swimming, diving, synchronized swimming), volleyball, kayaking and canoeing, gymnastics (acrobatics, aerobics, trampolining, artistic gymnastics, rhythmic gymnastics), judo, karate, athletics, beach soccer, ping pong, archery, shooting, triathlon, taekwondo, and fencing.
The Ukrainian national team has already arrived in Baku and is ready to compete. “The mood is normal, the flight was also good. We are adapting and beginning to train,” the National Olympic Committee’s press service quotes Oleh Verniaiev, Ukraine’s best 2014 athlete, as saying. “The rival teams are strong and impressive. We expect about 80 percent of Europe’s gymnastic elite to come. The competitions will follow a new pattern. For example, only 18 gymnasts, not 24 as before, will qualify for the all-round event finals, with only one person representing a country. The finals in individual events will only see six best qualified athletes instead of customary 8, again with only one representative of each country.
The Day was told at the National Olympic Committee that, to make it easier for fans to support our athletes, the website noc-ukr.org has opened a special reference page of the national team.
