Panagiota Lytra is sixth in Europe in the pole vault

Panayiota Lytra completed her completely successful appearance with an amazing performance in the ball, which gave her 6th place and is the highest Greek placing in the finals of the individual instruments for twenty years, as well as with 8th place in the corresponding final of the ball. at the Baku European Rhythmic Gymnastics Championship.

The 16-year-old champion saved her best appearance for the final of the event and with 31,100 points she took 6th place on her favorite instrument, moving up by one place compared to last year’s European in Tel Aviv, in which she was again a finalist on bars.

Her distinction is the highest in twenty years for a Greek woman in the final instruments of the individual, as far as the European championships are concerned, equaling the 6th place won in 2003 in Rieza, Germany by Elina Andriola, also in the corynas.

At the same time, the athlete from Morfoula Dona also participated in the final of the ball, where she ranked 8th with 30.950 points, being in this case also the first Greek woman to participate in at least two European finals after 2003.

The National Women’s Ensemble consistently high, 7th in the ribbons / balls at the European Rhythmic Championships

With the National Women’s Ensemble taking 7th place in the final with 3 ribbons / 2 balls, in its second consecutive appearance among the finalists of the institution, the curtain fell on the European rhythmic gymnastics championship in Baku.

The Greek team (Elpida Eglezou, Kalomira Karoki, Irini Konisti, Christina Riga, Marieta Topollai, substitute: Eira Laura Gikoka) scored 28.750 points in their program with the music track “Blizzard” by “Audiomachine” and took 7th place, however she deserved to be at least in the top five, since her performance was very good and she deserved an even higher score than the one she got in the qualifier (29.400 b.).

The Greek ensemble had also won 7th place in the same event at last year’s European Championships in Tel Aviv and thus managed to reach Baku in a success that had not been repeated in the last twenty years: Giving “the presence” to the final instruments for the second consecutive European championship, the National team achieved something that had to happen since the respective competitions in 2001 and 2003.

The medals in the 3-ribbon / 2-ball final were won by the “host” team of Azerbaijan (32.250 points), Israel (32.150 points) and Spain (31.200 points).

Confirmation of Greek potential in Baku despite the difficulties – Congratulations from E.G.O. in the National rhythmic team

With distinctions that have remained elusive for twenty years, but also with the feeling that the Greek rhythmic gymnastics champions can achieve even more and greater feats, starting with the pre-Olympic world championships next August in Valencia, it was closed for the Greek colors the European Championship in Baku.

The president of the Hellenic Gymnastics Federation Athanasios Stathopoulos, the first vice-president of the federation and president of the Rhythmic Gymnastics Technical Committee Irini Aindili and the Board of Directors. of E.G.O. addressed their warm congratulations to Panagiota Lytra and her coach Morfoula Dona, to the National Ensemble and coaches Marina Fateeva, Fotini Kotsopoulou, Sofia Aivathiadou and ballet teacher Ralitza Vladimirova, to Maria Dervisi and her coach Efi Bleka, as well as to the doctor Zaira Symeonidou, the physiotherapist Michalis Kalinderis, the international judges Efi Pantazidou, Sofia Boura and the entire staff of the National team.

After the completion of the great Greek effort in Baku, Irini Aindili pointed out:

“As far as Iota Lytra is concerned, I am proud of the fight she fought. This European championship was a marathon, a very tiring and difficult race, which he coped with with great success. She deserves a big thumbs up to all the contributors to her success. If she continues like this, her qualification for the Paris Olympics will be assured, through the world championships in August.

The Women’s Ensemble put on an excellent program in the ribbons/balls, but a mediocre performance in the hoops prevented the team from finishing where they could have in the all-around. In the final with the ribbons / balls the gymnasts were even better than the preliminary, but their score was not proportional to their appearance and for this reason we filed an appeal, which was not upheld. Certainly the National Ensemble could bring better results here, but some injuries to athletes did not make this match easy at all.

I want to personally thank our international judges, Mrs Pantazidou and Boura, as well as our medical staff in Baku, doctor Zaira Symeonidou and physical therapist Michalis Kalinderis, who had to manage many problems and managed to deal with them in the best possible way, in ‘a marathon European championship’.

The Greek delegation returns from Baku tomorrow, Monday (22/05), via Istanbul and is expected to arrive at the airport “El. Venizelos” at 08:35 in the morning.