The Shooting star award goes to … Francisca Maia (POR) and Valery Tukhashvili (RUS)

At the conclusion of the 30^th European Championships in Acrobatic Gymnastics in Pesaro (ITA), Aida Shaliyeva, Project Manager of our global partner SmartScoring presented the SmartScoring Shooting star award to Portugal’s Francisca Maia and Russia’s Valery Tukhashvili.

Started in 2018, this award aims to put a gymnast with an exceptional story in the spotlight, someone who is an inspiration for the future generation of gymnasts and the general public alike.

22-year-old Francisca Maia from Acro Clube da Maia near Porto has an impressive collection of medals, including from European and World Championships and the European Games.  She’s not only an accomplished athlete though. Francisca studies medicine and is part of a research team that looks into injury prevention in gymnastics. The future generation is definitely in excellent hands.

Valery Tukhashvili has been in acro for most of his life so when a torn Achilles threatened to cut his career short, Valery did everything in his power to return to top shape. After 6 months of recovery, he had just 6 weeks to get ready for the Baku World Cup which his men’s group won. Unfortunately, the Achilles tore again and many thought that was the end. But Valery couldn’t live without sports, without acro. He convinced his coaches to let him train again, and is still going strong several years later.