Traditionally wrestling is among the most successful Bulgarian sports. However, the performance of the Bulgarian athletes over the past few years was far from the great success marked in the past. The expectations about strong performance and medals were directed mainly at Bulgarian wrestling star Stanka Zlateva. However, the excellent performance of the Bulgarian team at the European Wrestling Championships last week refuted some pessimistic forecasts regarding the future of wrestling in Bulgaria and brought bigger optimism that this traditional Bulgarian sport will be revived soon. Bulgarian athletes won nine medals at the European Wrestling Championships and brought joy to all fans of wrestling in this country.

The Bulgarian wrestlers won two trophies in Finland- Stanka Zlateva won the title at the 75 kilogram weight category and Alexander Kostadinov won the gold medal at the 59 kilo weight category. Zlateva defeated 4:2 Vasilisa Marzalyuk from Belarus at the final. Alexander Kostadinov won an easy victory in Vantaa by technical knockout against Victor Ciobanu from Moldova and brought the second gold medal for Bulgaria. Lubomir Dimitrov won a silver medal at the 130 kilogram weight category. At the final he was defeated by a technical knockout by Riza Kayaalp form Turkey who became European wrestling champion in 2013, too. Taybe Usain, Djanan Manolova, Mimi Hristova, Victoria Bobeva, Borislav Novachkov and Miroslav Kirov won bronze medals at the European Wrestling Championships

The Bulgarian wrestling team failed to meet the great expectations at the last Summer Olympics in London and only Stanka Zlateva managed to win a silver medal. After the London 2012 Summer Olympic Games Ivo Angelov kept the hopes of a future success alive, as he won in 2013 a gold medal at the European Wrestling Championships at the Greco-Roman style contest. After the gold medal won by Ivo Angelov and the temporary absence of Stanka Zlateva from the wrestling championships, analysts were looking forward to the next big wrestling forum, in order to get a clearer notion about the future of the Bulgarian wrestling.

In Vantaa the Bulgarian athletes showed that Bulgaria will remain among the strongest countries in this sport. Stanka Zlateva appeared at the wrestling mat for the first time since 2012 and showed the world with her sixth European wrestling title that she has not lost her brilliant shape. The team renewal continues, but it already became clear that Bulgaria has many young talents in wrestling. The great success at the European Wrestling Championships made coaches Armen Nazaryan, Serafim Barzakov and Valentin Raychev hope for more gold medals in the future.

English version: Kostadin Atanasov