site.btaBulgaria Secures Three Golds, Two Silvers at World Kickboxing Championships in Albufeira

Bulgarian athletes secured three gold medals at the World Kickboxing Championships in the Portuguese city of Albufeira on Friday. Kalina Boyadzhieva won two titles and Kiril Iliev clinched one. Three more Bulgarian fighters passed the semi-finals and made it to the gold-medal bouts.

Seventeen-year-old Boyadzhieva became a world champion in the women’s +70 kg category in the point fighting and kick light disciplines.  

In the point fighting final, the Bulgarian defeated Dutch Nina Meppelder 13-6. In the kick light, Boyadzhieva overcame Linnea Ekman 3-0.

Boyadzhieva could clinch a hat-trick of titles if she defeats Slovenian Stasa Lipnik in the light contact final.

The third title for Bulgaria was won by Kiril Iliev, who overcame Spain’s Anxo Vidal Rodriguez 3-0 in the 57 kg category’s light contact discipline.

Bulgarian fighters Kristina Nikolova and Monika Petkova won silver medals in the women’s finals. Nikolova lost to Italy's Federica Trovalusci 5-15 in the 50 kg category’s point fighting discipline. Petkova was defeated by Slovenian Tyra Barada 0-3 in the 50 kg category’s light contact discipline.

On Saturday, the Bulgarian kickboxers will have the opportunity to add three more titles to their collection.

Kristina Nikolova, Aneliya Todorova, and Ivan Krastanov will take part in the finals in the kick light discipline.

In the women’s 50 kg category, Nikolova won over India's Kaur Khushpreet and will face Turkiye’s Duygu Turan in the final. In the women’s 55 kg category, Todorova defeated Spain’s Luna del Alba Vigo Velez 2-1 and will fight with Croatian Lucija Regvat for the gold medal.

In the men's 79 kg category, Ivan Krastanov eliminated Sami Jakob of Germany 3-0 in the semi-finals and will face Poland's Armin Wilczewski in the final. In the same discipline, in the 57 kg category, Kiril Iliev lost to Italian Adam Touissi 1-2 in the semi-finals.