During the first European Games in Baku in 2015, Bulgaria remained at the 27th place in the medal standings, wining one gold, four silver and five bronze medals. Sisters Gabriela Stoeva and Stephanie Stoeva won the gold at the badminton doubles tournament during the sports forum. Bulgarian volleyball players left with silver medals after losing 1: 3 against Germany at the final. Sambo competitor Kalina Stefanova, shooter Antoaneta Boneva and wrestler Elitsa Iankova also grabbed the silver medals. In December gold medallists Gabriela Stoeva and Stephanie Stoeva were selected for Women of the Year in the sports category at a ceremony organized by the Grazia magazine.

The national artistic gymnastics team led by coach Ina Ananieva has provided much joy to fans of the sport during the year. They won the all-round gold during the first tournament of the year, part of the Grand Prix series, which took place in the Russian capital city of Moscow. In August, during the World Rhythmic Gymnastics Cup in Sofia the Bulgarian competitors grabbed a total of three silver medals. After that in September, the Bulgarian team showed great performance in the world championship in Stuttgart, Germany. There the Bulgarians won the silver medal in the AA and bronze in the final with their performance with two hoops and three clubs.

The European Volleyball Championship in the period October 9-18 also created great emotions for the Bulgarian fans of the sport. The Bulgarian side was very close to the medals after a tough match against champions France that ended with a 2:3 loss for Bulgaria. After the match Bulgarian coach Plamen Konstantinov said it would be difficult for players to recover after the match. And this was felt during the match for the bronze medals against Italy, which won 3:1 and Bulgaria remained 4th. This has been the best performance of the Bulgarian team at the tournament since 2009. After this participation the Bulgarian team is now third in the European standings.

Bulgarian heavyweight boxer Kubrat Pulev (height 194 cm, weight 113 kg) continued to have success on the professional ring. Obviously recovered after the loss in the battle for the world title against Wladimir Klitschko last year, Pulev recorded two consecutive victories under the guidance of new coach Uli Wegner from Germany. After the victory of the Bulgarian against Brazilian George Arias in October, another victory followed against Maurice Harris in December. Pulev sent the American in knockout in the second minute of the match. This was the 22nd victory of the Bulgarian as a professional  boxer. After the match against Harris Kubrat Pulev said he hoped at the end of 2016 to play for the European or world title.

After successful 2015 a Bulgarian has the chance to grab the prize for the best kickboxer in the world of all time. This is Emanuil Dimitrov 79-kg category, who won three world titles for a year. The kickboxer triumphed in three major styles – point fighting, light contact and kick light. The achievement has no analogue in the last decade. In his career the Bulgarian has 5 gold medals.

23-year-old athlete Gabrieal Petrova  - triple jump silver medallist from the 2015 European Championship in Prague was selected for track-and-field athlete of the year in the traditional poll of Atletika magazine. Sprinter Ivet Lalova placed second and steeplechase competitor Mitko Tsenov placed third.

And something a bit more curios. In 2015 a green light was given to a project for dialogue between climbers, representatives of environmental organisations and authorities in Bulgaria for regulating climbing activity in order for conditions for joint existence of climbers and animals to be created.  Under the project entitled “We are not Alone on the Rocks” 19 new climbing routes were equipped and 14 existing ones were renovated. The routes are near Lakatnik, Gubislav, Dryanovo. In order to reduce stress for protected species, information boards were placed containing recommendations for protecting birds that nest in rocks.

English: Alexander Markov