Progress. That is what Head Coach Joel Soler says on the situation with Bulgaria’s national boxing team a few days before the 68th edition of the Strandzha Cup international amateur boxing tournament, the oldest one in Europe. It will be held in Sofia in the period February 21 – 26 with the participation of over 280 competitors from 35 countries. Soler, who took over the position in November 2015, expresses his content of the teamwork:

“We upgrade the Bulgarian boxing tradition which has always been at a very high level. We have been working together for over a year, in order to improve boxing technique and tactics. We had to fit in with each other through the first months and the boxers were getting used to the new techniques. We have the full support of the entire coach team and the President of the Boxing Federation Krasimir Ininski”, the head coach underlines and comments the new working style of the team:

“European boxers rely on physical strength as a whole. Latin America works under the rule “I hit you without giving you a chance to hit back” – this means lots of foot work, steps aside and tricks. My goal is to mix the Latin American with the Bulgarian boxing style and the results are very good. At first the competitors found it hard to get used to the new style during training sessions and in matches later on. However, they found it interesting, as it is more elegant. Daniel Asenov (up to 52 kg) is a good example with his gold from the Olympic qualification tournament in Baku, Azerbaijan. He won all his matches with beautiful boxing, moving his feet in an excellent manner and using lots of tricks. Everyone was charmed by his performance.”

Born in 1981, Joel has lots of experience. After having gone through different sports, he opted for boxing at the age of 11. His results were good and he started to live with it ever since. In the period 2009 – 2014 he was the deputy technical director of the Cuban national boxing team:

“The national team went through a difficult period back then. Many of our Olympic champions had emigrated. We started to work with Coach Rolando Asebal. We had two Olympic champs – Robeisy Ramirez and Yosvany Veitia in London 2012, alongside three world champions – Julio Cesar La Cruz, Lazaro Alvarez and Arlen Lopez.”

Upon his arrival to Bulgaria Joel started to work with the Locomotive team:

“We had really good results at the national and international level. I worked with Veselin Todorov at the preparation of the girls, aged 15-16 for the European championship in Hungary. Emi-Mari Todorova won the gold and another girl took bronze. Then Borislav Georgiev and I worked with the girls, aged 13-14 and they returned with 4 medals from Russia. The Federation offered me next to work with the nationals”, Joel says.

We ask him on the number of medals that we might expect from Strandzha.

“I am a very positive person”, Joel Soler answers. “I would say: we will take all the medals. However, don’t forget that sometimes it’s up to the referees, who would decide against us at a certain point. I think we can expect 4 medals, at least one of them gold”, the coach is sure.

Last week the team returned from a mountain camp, where it trained hard and covered 100% of the program.

“This year the federation, headed by Krasimir Ininski has started a new project. Young talents also joined the national team, as they have the potential to participate in the Tokyo 2020 Olympiad. They all trained together, as one family, with their idols Daniel Asenov, Simeon Chamov, Tinko Banabakov… The effect was really positive”, Joel underlines, adding as a conclusion that it is essential for the any child’s body and mind to get involved into some kind of a sport.

English version: Zhivko Stanchev