Radio Bulgaria

Bulgaria has achieved a success during its debut participation at the international mixed tennis event Hopman Cup in Australia. Bulgarian players Grigor Dimitrov and Tsvetana Pironkova won 2:1 against the team of Denmark. In Group A Dimitrov and Pironkova also won against the team of Bethanie Mattek-Sands and Mardy Fish from the US. Before that Pironkova lost against Mattek Sands, while Grigor Dimitrov won against Mardy Fish. This way the Bulgarians finished second in their group behind the team of the Czech Republic. Denmark and the US remained third and fourth. The Czech team of Kvitova and Berdych won at the final against the team of France. The mixed match did not take place as the Czech players both won against Bartoli and Gasquet in the singles. This has been the second Hopman Cup title after the victory of Jana Novotná and Petr Korda against the German team in 1994.

Bulgarian biathlon skier Krasimir Anev finished 12th at the 10-km sprint in Oberhof Germany. Anev did not miss a single target and finished 46.2 seconds behind Arnd Peiffer from Germany. Simon Fourcade from France finished second, while Evgeni Ustyugov from Russia placed third. The other Bulgarians, who took part in the competition, also showed good performance, although Mihail Klechorov finished 44th and Vladimir Iliev placed 53rd. A day before that the Bulgarian team placed 12th at the 7.5 km relay. Mihail Klechorov, Miroslav Kenanov, Vladimir Iliev, and Krasimir Anev made 15 misses at the targets. The team of Italy won the race.

Young Bulgarian ski jumper Vladimir Zografski placed 44th in the Four Hills competition in Bischofshofen with a total of 326 points. 5-time world champion Gregor Schlierenzauer won the title at the prestigious tournament. He won with a total of 933.8 points. Thomas Morgenstern finished second, while current leader in the world cup chart Andreas Kofler placed third with a total of 897 points.

Bulgarian quad bike pilot Petar Tsenkov placed 17th after the 7th stage of the Dakar Rally, which took place in the Atacama Desert in northern Chile. Tsenkov finished the 419-km route for 7:19:17 hours. Alejandro Patronelli from Argentina won the stage. Mladen Vachkov, who is the other Bulgarian participant in the most prestigious off-road race on the planet left the competition after the stage. Due to serious engine troubles, Vachkov had to reach the final riding his quad on a regular road. This way the big number of lost points stopped Vachkov from further participation in the rally.

Bulgarian chess grandmaster Kiril Georgiev placed second at the international Roquetas del Mar chess tournament in Spain. Georgiev gained a total of 7 points after a draw with Vadim Malahatko from Belgium in the last 9th round of the event. Dragan Paunovic from Serbia became first, while Dmitrii Svetushkin from Moldova placed third. A total of 112 chess players took part in the tournament.