In the Athletes’ Village in London, the Bulgarian flag was flown on Sunday. The first Bulgarian athletes who have arrived to the Olympics joined the ceremony. They included the Bulgarian national side in volleyball, men, in shooting, archery, gymnastics and badminton. The Secretary General of the Bulgarian Olympic Committee Belcho Goranov, and the Bulgarian Ambassador to the UK, Konstantin Dimitrov attended the ceremony too.
Bulgaria’s top male tennis player Grigor Dimitrov has for a third time this season reached a semifinal of an ATP tournament. At the tournament in Gstaad, Switzerland, during a very close match, Dimitrov (21) lost to Brazilian Thomaz Bellucci 0:2 after two tie-breaks. However, by qualifying for the semifinal, the young Bulgarian has gained 90 points for the world rankings and 18,460 euros from the tournament’s fund.
The Bulgarian teams have joined the European club tournaments in football with three draws and a win. In a match from the second preliminary round of the Champions League the newcomer to the European club tournaments FC Ludogorets from Razgrad, Northeastern Bulgaria, drew Dynamo of Zagreb at home, 1:1. Regrettably, the equalizer of the Croats came in the last minute of the match while before that the Bulgarian club had full supremacy in the pitch. Three Bulgarian clubs joined the second preliminary round of Europa League. Vice Champion FC CSKA has kept good chances of success in the second leg, following a goalless draw versus Slovenian Mura. The bronze medallists from FC Levski Sofia won 1:0 at home in a close match versus Sarajevo from Bosnia. The fourth Bulgarian representative in Europa League, FC Lokomotiv Plovdiv, drew 4:4 the guests from FC Vitesse of the Netherlands.
The Bulgarian male under-20 team in basketball has lost a match versus Israel for the third place in the European Championships, Division B, held in Sofia. The young national side lost 67:101, however, it has still entered Division A from next year, after it ranked fourth in the final standings. The champion is the team of Croatia who beat the Czech Republic 88:80. The female cadets under 16 have also moved onto Division A. At the semifinals of the European Championships in Estonia, they beat Latvia 53:52. At the final they lost to Lithuania 73:86 and won the silver medals, enough to promote them to Division A.
At the European cadet wrestling championships in Katowice, Poland, the Bulgarian athletes have won the total of nine medals – 1 gold, 4 silver and 4 bronze ones. In female cadet wrestling the gold went to Elis Manolova in the 65 kg weight class. Miglena Selvnishka (43 kg) won the silver and Marina Marinska (58 kg), the bronze. In the Greco-Roman style, male, Evgeni Gentchev (85 kg) and Shteryu Shterev (76 kg) won bronze medals. In the freestyle, male, cadets Mikai Naim (46 kg), Evelin Rusev (63 kg) and Engin Ismail (69) won silver medals. Bilgin Yumerov (85 kg) won a bronze medal.
Translated by Daniela Konstantinova
