Russia booed as first 10 Eurovision qualifiers go through

The Tolmachevy Sisters, who came from Russia, were booed by the crowd in Copenhagen as they qualified for the final of the Eurovision Song Contest.

17:16 07 May 2014

17-year-old Tolmachevy twins from Russia were booed in Copenhagen as it was announced that they would qualify for the final of the Eurovision Song Contest. 

 

However, this wasn’t the case when they performed at Tuesday's semi-finals where they received warm reception for their song. When they progressed to the finals, the 10,000 audience expressed their apparent disapproval due to Russia’s stance on gay rights and over the crisis in Ukraine. 

 

Meanwhile, nine other countries made it to the finals on Tuesday including Mariya Yaremchuk from Ukraine. 

 

San Marino and Montenegro made their debut in the final too. 

 

However, it the oddly named Aram Mp3 from Armenia that made it as bookies favourites to win on Saturday. His song Not Alone begins as a simple piano ballad before spinning off into dubstep. 

 

Other qualifiers include songs from Sweden, Hungary, Azerbaijan, The Netherlands, and Iceland. 

 

The next 10 qualifiers will be selected at the second semi-final on Thursday night.

 

The UK’s entrant is Molly Smitten-Downes who was chosen through the BBC’s Introducing scheme for unsigned acts. Her single entered the UK chart at number 48 on Sunday. However, bookmakers are not very optimistic giving her 6/1 chances of making it to the final. 

 

The first wave of Eurovision semi-final qualifiers are: 

 

•Montenegro

•Hungary

•Russia

•Armenia

•Azerbaijan

•San Marino

•Ukraine

•Sweden

•Netherlands

•Iceland