19th “Stars above the Boug River” International ACRO Tournament
Vinnitsa (UKR), February 24-27, 2010

LAUSANNE (SUI), FIG Office, February 22, 2010: Organised by the Vinnista Association of Sports Acrobatics the 19th International Acrobatic Gymnastics Tournament “Stars above the Boug River” will be held in the city of Vinnitsa (UKR) on February 24-27, 2010. 250 km from the Ukrainian capital of Kiev, Vinnitsa is located on the banks of the Southern Boug River, which gave the prestigious tournament its name.

When the tournament first took place in 1999, participants came from Bulgaria, Poland, the USA and Ukraine. Since that time, the number of participating countries has increased to 13, with a total of 265 individuals participating this year as delegates of Azerbaijan, Great Britain, Belarus, Belgium, Israel, Kazakhsten, Moldova, the Netherlands, Poland, Portugal, Russia, Uzbekistan, and Ukraine.

Senior and junior acrobats start off in all five categories: Mixed Pairs, Women's Pairs, Men's Pairs, Women's Group and Men's Group. In all categories, winners of past international acrobatic competitions will showcase their skills, which is why this tournament attracts so much attention.

A few key players of the senior’s competition:

Men’s Pair:
GBR: 2009 World Games Bronze medallists and European runners-up: Douglas FORDYCE, Edward UPCOTT
UKR – 2009 World Games Champions, 2008 World Champions, European Champions: Sergei POPOV, Mikola CHERBAK

Women’s Pair:
AZE - 2009 World Games runner-up: Ayla AMMADOVA, Dilara SULTANOVA
BEL - 2009 World Games Gold medallists: Florence HENRIST, Tatjana DE VOS

Mixed Pair:
BEL - 2009 World Games runners-up: Julie VAN GELDER, Menno VANDERGHOTE
GBR - 2009 World Games Bronze medallists: Nicholas ILLINGWORTH, Katie AXTEN

Men’s Group:
GBR - 2009 World Games Silver medallists and European Champions: Adam MCASSEY, Adam BUCKINGHAM, Alex UTTLEY, Jonathan STRANKS.

Women’s Group:
GBR - 2009 World Games Silver medallists: Emma WALTERS, Jennie MILLER, Katherine SMITH
RUS – 2009 World Games Champions, 2008 World Champions, European Champions: Ekaterina STROYNOVA, Ekaterina LOGINOVA, Kristina KAZANTSEVA
UKR – 2009 World Games Bronze medallists and European runners-up: Natalia VINNIK, Kateryna KALYTA, Yuliya ODINTSOVA

2009 “Stars above the Boug River” title holders:

Men’s Pair: Konstantyn AVERYN / Petr GMYZYN (KAZ) - 85.109
Women’s Pair: Tatjana DE VOS / Florence HENRIST (BEL) - 86.613
Mixed Pair: Menno VANDERGHOTE / Julie VAN GELDER (BEL) - 87.207
Men’s Group: Russia (Arthur AVAKJAN, Jury GERASIMOV, Konstantin STETSENKO and Grigory SERGIENKO) - 85.775
Women’s Group: Russia (Ekaterina STROYNOVA, Ekaterina LOGINOVA and Aygul SHAYKHUDINOVA) - 88.320