F.I.G. 2018 World Cup & Challenge Cup Circuit Rhythmic Gymnastics

In the year of the 36th World Championships of Rhythmic Gymnastics, the F.I.G. organizes total of 4 A-World Cups and in the second half of the year another 4 so-called World Challenge Cup Events.
Next and last World Cup event this year takes place at the last weekend in April in Baku, Azerbaidchan ...
The highlight of the 2018 gymnastics year will be the World Championships from 7 to 16 September in the Bulgarian capital Sofia

27-29 APRIL 2018
(4) - FIG WORLD CUP - B A K U // AZE

Ashram, Italian Group win overall Rhythmic World Cup Series
* f i g - r e p o r t --:

Linoy Ashram (ISR) and the Italian Group are the overall victors of the 2018 World Cup series for Rhythmic Gymnastics, which concluded in Baku this weekend.
The whirlwind World Cup series kicked off in Sofia (BUL) just one month ago, followed by stops in Pesaro (ITA) and Tashkent (UZB). The gymnasts and groups could earn up to 50 points at each of the four events, with the sum of the three best finishes determining the final standings.

Linoy Ashram takes All-around honours
The first Israeli to win the World Cup series, Ashram earned her victory (125 points) after finishing second in Tashkent and taking third in Sofia and Pesaro. Ashram, who turns 19 on 13 May, already made history for Israeli Gymnastics last year when she won the bronze medal at the World Championships, becoming the first gymnast from her country to win a World All-around medal.
Katrin Taseva (BUL) claimed second overall (115 points). Taseva, who was second All-around in Pesaro and fourth in both Sofia and Baku, also won the Ribbon title, thanks to silver medals on the event in Sofia, Pesaro and Baku. She was the only gymnast to finish in the top three in all the individual events, finishing second in the Hoop and third with the Ball and the Clubs.
Aleksandra Soldatova (RUS) finished third in the series rankings, having amassed 100 points even with victories in Sofia and Tashkent. Seventh in the overall rankings, Boryana Kaleyn, one of Bulgaria's brightest hopes for the World Championships in Sofia, won the Hoop title, amassing 115 points over Taseva.
Ekaterina Selezneva (RUS), fourth in the overall series, claimed the Ball title (135 points). Young Vlada Nikolchenko (UKR), 16, took first with the Clubs (140 points) in her first senior season, with the highest point total of any individual category.

Italy sweeps the Group titles
ITALY won the Group All-around title with 140 points. After beginning the series in third place in Sofia, Italy claimed first place in both Pesaro and Baku to take the title over RUSSIA (125 points) and BELARUS (120 points).
Bulgaria, last year’s overall champions, finished in a tie for fourth with Japan (95 points) after only taking part in two events - albeit with a spectacular first place in Sofia and second place in Baku. Italy also won both apparatus titles.
The Italians took the Five Hoops title (where they are the reigning World champions) with 135 points, thanks to their first-place finish at home in Pesaro, second place in Baku and third place in Sofia. Belarus and Ukraine tied for second place with 105 points in the Five Hoops ranking. With 130 points, the Italians also won the Three Balls Two Ropes title over World champions Russia (125 points) and Ukraine (115 points).
* R E S U L T S (Overview):
>> Ind. App. FINALS; >> Groups FINALS
>> Ind. All-around; >> Groups All-around

20-22 APRIL 2018
(3) - FIG WORLD CUP - Tashkent // UZB

* f i g - r e p o r t --: Aleksandra Soldatova illuminated the Gymnastics Sports Palace as Russia dominated the Uzkbek leg of the 2018 Rhythmic Gymnastics World Cup series. Soldatova achieved a clean sweep of five gold medals in the individual events, with Russia’s gymnasts also standing on top of the podium in the three group competitions. The 2016 Grand Prix Final All-around champion, Soldatova had won a hat-trick of gold medals when the World Cup series began in Sofia three weeks ago and she now surpassed that feat with five golds in Tashkent. The 19-year-old won the Individual All-around competition on Sunday with a score of 77,050, finishing ahead of Israel’s Linoy Ashram and compatriot Ekaterina Selezneva.
Soldatova also won each of the four apparatus finals – Hoop, Ball, Clubs, Ribbon
– with her highest score coming with the Hoop (19,900).
Israel’s Linoy Ashram took a gold medal in each of this month’s first two World Cups but had to settle for four silver medals and one bronze in the individual events over the weekend – finishing second to Soldatova with the Hoop, Ball and Ribbon as well as in the All-around.
Uzbekistan’s Sabina Tashkenbaeva gave the home crowd something to cheer when earning a silver medal with Clubs, forcing Ashram into third place. The other gymnasts on the podium were Russia’s Selezneva who took three bronze medals (All-around, Ball, Ribbon) and Boryana Kaleyn of Bulgaria who won a bronze with the Hoop.
* Russian Group’s supremacy
The Russian domination of the weekend’s event continued in the Group competitions. Russia’s supremacy in the Group All-around was underlined by the gap between their winning score of 43,200 and second-placed Belarus’s 36,850. Estonia completed the podium. The Russian ensemble won the Five Hoops ahead of Ukraine and Belarus, and also took gold with Two Ropes and Three Balls, with Israel second and Ukraine third. The final leg of the World Cup series will be in Baku, Azerbaijan next weekend (27-29 April).
►► Full results
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* F I G Video Summary ...

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13-15 APRIL 2018
(2) - FIG WORLD CUP - Pesaro // ITA

Four-times winner was Dina AVERINA from Russia. Only Linoy ASHRAM from Israel broke the Russian winning streak with the clubs: Here the Russians stayed surprisingly without any medal ...!
♦♦ R E S U L T S
* Individual Finals:
► Hoop   ► B a l l; ► Clubs ► Ribbon
     > Indiv. All-around (Qualification)

** FIG - Video Highlights---:

* Results Groups:
   ► Groups Final 5 Hoops    ► Groups Final Combi
       > Groups All-around;

29-March - 01-APRIL 2018
(1) - FIG WORLD CUP - Sofia / BUL

* INDIVIDUAL: After the Russian double victory in the all-around by Alexandra Soldatova (72,100) in front of her compatriot Ekaterina Selesneva (71,350), the best multi-fighter in the first FIG World Cup competition of the Rhythmic Gymnastics 2018 in Sofia on Easter Sunday also won the final with hoop (18,550) and ball (18,300 ). The club final was won by the all-around fourth-placed Katrin Taseva from Bulgaria (17,850); World Cup gold with the ribbon went to Linoy Ashram (15,950) from Israel.

** F.I.G. WORLD CUP SUMMARY --:

* GROUPS:
This year, with the Worlds coming back to Bulgaria for the first time since 1987, the quintet are dreaming of winning gold in front of their home crowd at Sofia and continuing the country's rich tradition of talented gymnasts. In the group competition: BULGARIA (41,250) beat Japan (38,700) and Italy (38,550), where the Russian group finished fourth only.
The final 5 hoopes decided the Bulgarians for themselves; the victory in the combination exercise went to Japan.
* R E S U L T S
- Individual Finals: ► Hoop & Ball; ► Clubs & Ribbon
> Indiv. All-around (Qualification)
- Groups: > Groups All-around; ► Groups Finals

... more Information about
2018 FIG RG World Challenge Cups ...
→ ... from (1) in Guadalajara, (2) to (2) Portimao and (3) Berlin in spring
and the No. (3) in Minsk (August) and at last No. (5) Kazan (- both in August)
... you will find ►► H E R E

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