Three Bulgarian football clubs – Levski, CSKA and Litex continue their participation in Europa League. FC Levski eliminated Swedish Kalmar following a 1:1 draw in the first leg and a 5:2 victory at home. The second leg in Sofia went through some ups and downs. Following excellent performance Levski was leading with 3:0 10 minutes before the end of the match. The goals were scored by the new Levski center forward Gara Dembele (two) and by Danny Mladenov (one). Visibly relaxed, the Levski players admitted as many as two goals that Kalmar scored for two minutes. Well, it was enough for the Bulgarian team to mobilize, and the two goals scored by substitute Ismalil Isa took Levski further in the tournament. In the next round Levski has to face another Swedish FC – AIK Solna. The other Bulgarian team FC CSKA of Sofia, which had won the first leg versus Cliftonville of Northern Ireland 3:0 as host, was lagging behind in the second leg with 1:0, but finally achieved a victory, 2:1. CSKA was lucky in the lots and in the next round will again play versus an amateur team – THC from Wales. Bulgaria’s champion Litex from Lovech is the third Bulgarian FC to appear in the group phase of Europa League, after it failed in the third preliminary round of the Champions League. Following a draw at home against Slovakia’s Zilina, Litex took the lead in the 50th minute of the second leg. The hosts from Zilina were quick to score an equalizer though, while Litex captain Ivelin Popov was shown a red card leaving the team with 10 players. Later in the match Zilina scored two other goals and qualified for the next round. FC Litex however continues playing in Europa League, but has to face a challenging team, Debrecen from Hungary which eliminated FC Levski last year. The fourth Bulgarian club that joined the European football tournaments, Beroe from Stara Zagora drew Rapid Vienna 1:1 at home, but lost 0:3 at the second leg in Vienna.
The Bulgarian men’s national side beat Poland in a qualification match for the 2011 European Basketball Championships with 74:70. Before the fourth quarter of the match in Sofia the Bulgarians lagged behind Poland with 11 points at 44:55. After a great performance in the last minutes demonstrated by Filip Videnov, the Bulgarian national side made a turnaround. Throughout the match Videnov scored the impressive 26 points.
Iliyan Gazepov has become European cadet wrestling champion in the 85 kg category at the European Wrestling Championships for Cadets in Sarajevo. At the finals Bulgaria’s young hopeful in the Greco-Roman style Gazepov beat Russian Ruslan Adzhigov. Yoto Hristov lost the match for the bronze in the 42 kg category from Daniel Kataraga.
Momchil Karailiev ranked 8th in the triple jump at the Diamond League tournament held in Stockholm, Sweden. Bulgaria’s top athlete jumped 16.54 m. The title went to French Teddy Tamgho with 17.36 m.
English version Daniela Konstantinova
