Todor Zelenkov: To overcome world competition in arm wrestling, you need a strong will and a doze of stubbornness

published on 11/7/24 11:33 AM

Todor Zelenkov

Photo: Private archive

Arm wrestling is rarely talked about in Bulgaria as a prestigious sport, but we can boast with being a world power in this sport as our athletes have become European and world arm wrestling champions more than once.

Thanks to athletes such as Plamen Dimitrov, Tsvetan Gashevsky, Simon Sharabanski, etc., arm wrestling enjoys great popularity among young people in Bulgaria. There are many strong men all over the country who are looking for increasingly new challenges. The convenience of this sport is that the rules are clear and anyone can train on their own, even equip their own training room at home. And appearing in a competition is not tied to membership in a sports club or the mediation of a proven coach who could pave your way to European and world competitions. Dozens and perhaps hundreds of small arm wrestling tournaments organized by local clubs are held in the Bulgarian capital Sofia and across the country.

Two gold medals for Bulgaria at European Armwrestling Championships in Sofia

Successful Bulgarian participation at European Armwrestling Championships 2014

And even if there is no ranking in which of the regions of Bulgaria we can find the men with the strongest hands ready for a duel at the table, we know for sure that some of them are in the town of Gorna Oryahovitsa in Northern Bulgaria. This is the native town also of Todor Zelenkov - this year's winner of the world title in arm wrestling in the left-handed Junior U-21 category. The tournament was held at the beginning of October in Loutraki, Greece.

The champion Todor Zelenkov is the pride of the entire town of Gorna Oryahovitsa, and his fellow citizens congratulated each other on the victory on social networks and proudly shared footage from the award ceremony itself. Todor is only 20 years old. He has been addicted to this sport since he was a child, and he has been preparing for a competition for only two years in the local club "Lokomotiv 96". Competition in arm wrestling in Todor's hometown is great, so with a lot of hard work and training, he manages to be a strong rival to the best in the discipline. "The most contagious is the example of my two coaches, who are also from Gorna Oryahovitsa," says Todor Zelenkov and continues:

"Both of them are multiple world champions - Plamen Dimitrov and Tsvetan Gashevsky - from whom I get a lot of useful information and we do a lot of training. This is the first club for arm wrestling in Bulgaria - "Lokomotiv 96". Competitions through the club have been held for 30 years in the country We are a very strong nation and we perform at a very high level worldwide. I always aspire to play like my coach Plamen. He has a lot of experience in the sport and knows how to prepare very well other competitors.

The competition in Greece was extremely difficult and had nothing to do with the level of the tournaments in the country. Even before I left for the tournament, I vowed that I would become a world champion, and it struck me that my opponents from Canada and Poland were the strongest."

Todor Zelenkov has repeatedly been the republican champion in Bulgaria and this gives him confidence to fight and win on the world podium. He says that arm wrestling requires a specific type of strength. "You need strong tendons, good joints and very strong hands, in general. This is normally due to good genes, but there are no other prominent athletes at this level in my family," says Todor and continues:

The Bulgarian team at the World Armwrestling Championship in Loutraki, Greece

"When I go to training in the afternoon, I train for a few hours and then there is no time for anything else. I go home and go to sleep, but on the other hand, the sport makes me happy with the results. I became the winner in the left-handed category because I made technical mistakes at the other one. I still lack the necessary psychological resilience. But when you hear the Bulgarian national anthem in the hall, it gives you goosebumps. It was an amazing experience. Now I'm studying at the University of Veliko Tarnovo. A person, as long as he has the desire, can achieve anything, allocate time for both study and sports. But in everything it is important to show perseverance and be persistent. There was never an occasion when I said to myself that I could not and would give up the sport. I rely on my strong will and even stubbornness", says arm wrestling champion Todor Zelenkov.

Photos: Todor Zelenkov's private archive, Facebook/Armwrestling Club - Lokomotiv 96

English publication by Rositsa Petkova

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