Radio Bulgaria

Open Water Swimming: Petar Stoychev wins Lake Ochrida race
Bulgarian open water swimmer Petar Stoychev recorded his 9th victory in the Lake Ochrida race in Macedonia. He covered the 30 km distance in 5 hours 37 minutes and 39 seconds. Stoychev got way ahead of the core of contenders halfway through and kept the advance till the end. Alexander Studinski of Germany finished second, while Damian Bloom of Argentina remained third.

Tennis: Grigor Dimitrov wins Irun tournament in Spain
Bulgaria’s top male tennis player Grigor Dimitrov won the Irun tournament in Spain beating Sergio Gutierrrez-Ferrol of Spain 2:1 sets in the final. This has been the 25th win out of a total of 29 matches Grigorov has played under his new coach Australian Peter McNamara. With the 27 points he earned Grigorov is likely to enter the ATP’s top 250 on August 23.

Basketball: women’s national side beat Finland
Bulgaria’s women’s national basketball team beat Finland 88:65, and scored a second victory in their qualification group for the 2011 European championships. Bulgaria still has chances of qualifying and currently is in third place with two wins and two losses, following Montenegro and Turkey that have 3 wins out of 3 matches each. Unfortunately, the men’s national side lost to Belgium 69:74 and Georgia 79:83 in the European championships qualifications.

Football: Friendly match Bulgaria: Russia 0:1
In a friendly match played in St. Petersburg, Russia, the Bulgarian national football team lost to the host nation 0:1. Roman Shirokov scored in the sixth minute after a rude mistake made by Bulgarian goalkeeper Nikolay Mihaylov. This was Bulgaria’s last check before the onset of the 2012 European championships qualifications. In their first qualification group game the Bulgarian footballers will play versus England on September 3 in an away match.

Football: Litex of Lovech wins Bulgaria Super Cup
Bulgaria’s football champion Litex of Lovech won also the Super Cup in a game that took place at Vassil Levski National Stadium versus Beroe of Stara Zagora, who had won the National Cup. The game ended 2:1 (1:1 in the regular time) after French-born Litex striker Wilfred Niflore scored in the 101st minute.

Football: Bulgarian Premiership
Tchernomorets of Burgas beat Levski of Sofia 2:1 in Burgas in a round 3 match of Bulgaria’s Premiership. Lokomotiv of Plovdiv beat Sliven 1:0, while Litex of Lovech beat Pirin Blagoevgrad in a home match 2:1. CSKA of Sofia ended in a 2:2 draw versus Vidima-Rakovski of Sevlievo. Currently Lokomotiv of Plovdiv tops the chart followed by Litex of Lovech and Tchernomorets of Burgas.

English version by Radostin Zhelev