Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev and First Vice-President Mehriban Aliyeva are doing their best to develop sports in the country, head coach of the Ukrainian national rhythmic gymnastics team, vice-president of the Ukrainian Gymnastics Federation Irina Deriugina told.

Axar.az reports citing Trend.

"Ukraine can only envy the Azerbaijani leadership for its attention to the sports,” she said. “I think that this is the correct policy when the president heads the National Olympic Committee and oversees the sports. In some countries, the presidents are only involved in politics and forget about sports.”

While speaking about sports, Deriugina emphasized the development of gymnastics in the country, as well as the excellent National Gymnastics Arena and the role of former Secretary General of the Azerbaijan Gymnastics Federation Farid Gaibov, who presently, heads the European Union of Gymnastics, in the development of this kind of sports in the world.

“I know Farid from the very beginning of his activity in gymnastics,” she said. “He became president of the European Union of Gymnastics and presently, he does a lot for the development of this kind of sports.”

“Today gymnastics survived the transformation in the world and became more interesting,” Deriugina added.

"Gymnastics is a very hard kind of sports,” she said. “Of course, this kind of sports gives a lot to girls, teaches them good things, but it is very hard work that requires a lot of training. I like this kind of sports and I want it to hold its rightful place in the world. However, today there are some obstacles related to the competition rules that hinder the development of this kind of sports."

Deriugina also shared her impressions of Azerbaijan.

"I am in love with Azerbaijan, this is a wonderful country,” she said. “I have many friends here."