Lebanese Hopes High for Gymnast Sadek

Hopes are high in the Lebanese camp that young rhythmic gymnast Elissa Sadek can continue her rise in the rankings at the Islamic Solidarity Games being held in Baku from May 12-22.

The 17-year-old Sadek made her mark at the Arab Gymnastics Championships held in Tunisia in October last year when she came away with a clean sweep of five gold medals.

She also competed in the 2014 Arab Rhythmic Gymnastics tournament held in Qatar when she came away with three silver medals and two bronzes.

Head of the Lebanese Gymnastics Federation, Mohamed Mekki said that Lebanon had "great hopes" that Sadek could challenge for more medals in a sport where hosts Azerbaijan are particularly strong.

Mekki announced that Sadek had undergone two important training camps in Russia in February and April to be physically, technically and psychologically ready for the Solidarity Games and that her confidence level was very high.

"The technical level that Sadek attained has risen in recent days in a remarkable manner," he added.

For his part, secretary of the Lebanese Gymnastics Association Ghassan Majid said that Sadek had been training hard and in a very professional manner.

"In all the competitions and events that Sadek is involved in, we keep in the back of our minds the buildup to the Tokyo 2020 Olympics. So what is important to us now is to strengthen her international ranking and improve her scores," he said.

Majid said that the next phase of Sadek's development would see her take part in the Asian Gymnastics Cup in Kazakhstan in June, the World Cup in August in Russia, and in the World Championships in September in Italy.