Radio Bulgaria

Michail Ganev has for the second time become the winner of the Dan Kolov Golden Belt at the freestyle wrestling tournament of the same name held in Universiada Hall in Sofia. The 2010 world champion Ganev earned the gold in the 84-kg category by defeating at the finals Brazil’s Adrian Gaude with 2:0 parts. Ganev earned the trophy back in 2006, as well.
The winner of the golden belt Nikola Petrov in the Greco-Roman style event became Iliyan Georgiev who earned the title in the category of up to 74 kg after a win at the finals versus Georgian Manuhar Kadia. Bulgarian female wrestler Stanka Zlateva earned the gold in the 72-kg category versus Sweden’s Jenny Fransson was named the best competitor among women.

Bulgarian wrestlers earned a total of 17 medals - 7 gold medals, 7 silver and 3 bronze medals. In the Greco-roman style, gold was earned also by the medalist from world and European championships Anatoliy Guidia who defeated the Bessarabian Bulgarian Vladimir Dubov who recently received the right to represent Bulgaria. 37-year-old veteran Serafim Barzakov had the bad luck to suffer an injury in the finals versus the Romanian Gheorghe Bucur in the 66-kg category of the free style and was left with the silver and the winner in the same category became Leonid Bazan after he defeated the European champion Albert Batirov of Belarus. Another silver medal went to Dimitar Kumchev in the 120-kg category who lost to Romanian Rares. Silver medals were earned by Kiril Terziev in the 74-kg category and Georgi Sredkov in the 96-kg category where the bronze went to Bulgarian Peycho Bimbalov again. In the Greco-roman style event, Alexander Kostadinov won the gold in the 55-kg category, Ivo Angelov in the 60-kg category, and Ivan Ivanov in the 120-kg category. Silver medals went to Nikolay Bairyakov in the 84-kg category and Kaloyan Dinchev in the 96-kg category.

Ivet Lalova has started off the new year with a victory and a new record. Bulgaria’s best female sprinter clocked 7.20 seconds in the 60-meter dash at the Mondeville tournament. Her previous achievement was back in 2004 when she clocked 7.21 seconds.

Mirela Demireva broke a record in the high jump competition in Luxembourg. In her third attempt, she jumped 190 cm, which brought her the gold. Demireva’s achievements have secured her participation in the 2012 European Athletics Championships in Helsinki, Finland.

The basketball players from Levski Sofia have clenched a victory over Israel, thus topping the rankings in the Balkan League’s Group B. They beat the Israeli team Apoel 86:79. Levski’s success has come to show the team can afford 2 losses in the following 3 games in its bid for the first place. Aaron Harper once again performed best in the game, marking 24 scores. His fellow national Marcus Hall added 12 scores and 4 assists.

Antoaneta Stefanova finished 5th in the women’s category of the annual Gibraltar Chess Festival and 34th in the general rankings. In the 9th round, the Bulgarian won over English Gary Quillan and in the 10th round managed to hold Eduardo Iturrizaga from Venezuela to a draw. This is how Stefanova garnered 6.5 points out of 10 and added 6.5 points to her Elo rating. The festival brought together the world’s best chess players. Nigel Ashort from the UK won the Gibraltar tournament.

Emilia Yordanova ranked 8th in the women’s 15 km individual race of the European Biathlon Championship in Osrable (Slovakia). Russian Anastasia Zagoruiko became European champion, followed by Germans Juliane Doell and Carolin Hennecke. 

Translated by Vyara Popova, Rossitsa Petcova