Sports Roundup

published on 12/28/09 1:02 PM

Bulgarian national football team manager Stanimir Stoilov is not happy with the team’s performance in 2009.

Photo: BGNES

Bulgarian national football team manger, Stanimir Stoilov, has admitted 2009 was not successful for the Lions, as the team did not qualify for the 2010 FIFA World Cup in South Africa. Poor defence turned out to be a major problem, Stoilov said. According to the coach, less experienced players tend to make crucial mistakes. “We play well in offence but need to improve the general team performance. In order to qualify for the World Cup, these eleven players must think as one,” Mr Stoilov pointed out in an interview for the sport web site ring.bg. A great number of Bulgarian footballers playing abroad has also turned out to be a problem.

Bulgarian national football team captain and Manchester United striker Dimitar Berbatov will be out for three months, British paper The Sun reported. Berbatov has been struggling with a knee injury and needs to go through surgery. He has been playing through the pain barrier in the autumn, as the doctors of the English champions did everything to prevent knee surgery. This has proved impossible and the injury has started affecting Berbatov’s performance.

Greek basketball player Vassilis Spanoulis was voted Sports Person of the Balkans in the 37th edition of the annual poll of the Bulgarian state-run BTA news agency. Spanoulis won the prize in competition with Bulgarian world boxing champion Detelin Dalakliev and Manchester United striker Dimitar Berbatov. In 2009, the Greek player became Euroleague champion with Panathinaikos and also won the championship in his country. Spanoulis became leader in the poll, gathering 43 points. Romanian gymnast Marian Dragulesco, who won the award in 2005, remained second. Bulgarian world boxing champion of 54kg category, Detelin Dalakliev is third with 37 points. Football player Dimitar Berbatov is also among the top ten Balkan players, becoming 6th. The annual poll was conducted among the eight state-run news agencies of Albania, Bulgaria, Greece, Macedonia, Montenegro, Romania, Serbia, and Turkey. The poll included 18 players in ten sport categories: basketball, boxing, wrestling, water polo, rowing, athletics, swimming, gymnastics, tennis, and football.

Bulgarian national team skiers Georgi Georgiev and Sylvia Madzharska won two FIS (International Ski Federation) slalom races that took place in the Bulgarian resort of Bansko before Christmas. 22-year-old Georgi Georgiev from Sofia won both runs of the men’s race. Sylvia Madzharska also easily won the women’s race being faster than the best Bulgarian skier in recent years Maria Kirkova.

The Levski PFC fan club organized a Christmas charity campaign for a poor family in Sofia. The family of Veselka Krusteva and Kiril Mihailov live together with their 8 children in scarcity. Their eldest daughter is a fan of the blue team, whose fan club bought a television set so the family could watch the games. The fans also promised to take the children to all matches of Levski in 2010.

English version: Alexander Markov

По публикацията работи: Vesela Vladkova

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