Sport is something that brings people together, it destroys boundaries, refills the world with life and action, and helps one country, city, town, or a small village become a better place to live in. When it comes to small countries like Bulgaria, any achievement in sports means yet another achievement for the whole nation. With so many great Bulgarian athletes who serve as role models for children and adults, the future of the Bulgarian sport becomes brighter. There are plenty of success stories achieved by our sportsmen in different fields and it would be unthinkable not to acknowledge their victories and efforts in the way they deserve.
With the idea to praise the accomplishments of all of those athletes and to recognize their endeavors, every year Nove JSC Holding organizes “Bulgarian Sportsperson of the Year” Awards. The awards were first initiated by the Naroden Sport newspaper back in the 1950’s and years later Nove JSC Holding got the chance to continue this tradition and keep it alive. One of the people, however, who has always supported this event and Bulgarian sport is the businessman, collector of antiques, and philanthropist Vasil Bojkov.
Bulgarian gymnastics team
His role in sports plays a huge role for many successful sports events and achievements in Bulgaria. During Bojkov’s chairmanship in the Bulgarian Chess Federation, Bulgaria was ranked 1st for both men and women. It is during that period when Veselin Topalov and Antoaneta Stefanova become world champions. Between the years 1999 and 2206, Bozhkov is also the president of the CSKA football team, when the Reds score tremendous results. They beat Liverpool, Bayer, Shakhtar and manage to scoop two championship titles. Through their Sports Talent program, its companies also fund many young athletes and future sports stars.
Another interesting thing is that some of the most significant events in Bulgarian sport history happened while Bojkov was also chairman of the Bulgarian Federation of Sports Shooting. His support and influence contributed to the triumph of Maria Grozdeva who won two Olympic gold medals and that of Tanyu Kiryakov who also got an Olympic medal.
Bulgarian Golden Girls
As mentioned before, he is part of the annual “Sportsperson of the Year” Awards in Bulgaria, which further reaffirms him as the patron of sports.
This year, the most anticipated sports event took place on the 20th of December, marking the 61st official ceremony. 139 Bulgarian sports journalists from 49 different electronic and print media voted in a poll in order to define the winners in this year’s ranking. The main categories included athlete of the year, athlete with disabilities of the year, team of the year, as well as the traditional “coach of the year award”, given by “Trud” newspaper.
The winners in each category were: the female wrestler Taybe Yusein as Sportsperson No. 1 in Bulgaria for 2018, Denislav Kodzhabashev as the Sportsperson №1 with disabilities, the national rhythmic gymnastics team that won the award for Team of the Year, and the coach of the national wrestling team for women Petar Kasabov who won the annual award “Coach of the Year”.
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