site.bta15 Sports Join Newly Established Association of Bulgarian Sports Federations

A total of 15 sports are part of the newly established Association of Bulgarian Sports Federations, whose leadership gave their first official press conference on Tuesday in the National Press Club of BTA.

Ivan Tsenov, former deputy Minister of Sport and former executive Vice-president of The Bulgarian Basketball Federation, was elected as chair. "We met for the first time on November 19 and discussed the possibilities of creating such an organization", he said, adding that all the representatives of the federations were unanimous that there is a necessity for such an association and it will help Bulgarian sport. "The next gathering was on December 5 and we had a Constituent Assembly where the Statutes of the organization were approved and a Board of Directors, a President and two Vice-Presidents were elected. I have the honor to be the chair and the vice-chairs are Vesela Lecheva and Slavi Binev", Tsenov said.

The following presidents are also on the Board of Directors Ivan Kolev (athletics), Georgi Avramchev (swimming), Krasimir Dunev (gymnastics), Volodya Zlatev (badminton), Georgi Bobev (vice-president, skiing), Andrey Petrov (Executive Director of the Bulgarian Football Federation), Rumen Stoilov (judo), Todor Gergov (equestrian), Nikolay Bukhalov (canoe-kayak), Hristo Marinov (wrestling), Iliana Raeva (rhythmic gymnastics) and Rosen Dobrev (handball).

Tsenov clarified that the main reason for the creation of the Association is the huge imbalance that exists in the attitudes and expectations of society towards physical education and sport as results and as achievements and the amount of funds that are allocated for its financing. "The second main reason is that the institutions in Bulgaria that are responsible for the development of sport - the Ministry of Youth and Sports, the Ministry of Education, the municipal leaderships, not that there is little coordination between them, but there is a lack of coordination and everyone is doing something in one direction and not working with a unified vision", Tsenov added. "A lot of people, when it comes to the financing of sport, what is the level of sport in Bulgaria, they say "there is no state policy". So the first thing that will have to change is this coordination between the different institutions. If we all look in the same direction, things will develop much better. The doors of the Association are open to other willing federations. The Association is apolitical and we will not allow any political party or parliamentary groups to exert themselves on the activities of the Association and use it for some image", he said.

The former Minister of Sport and current head of the shooting sport federation Vesela Lecheva said that the sport is finally united. "I want to express my satisfaction that the sport can finally be united in one common organization", she said. "Unfortunately, in recent years the lack of such an organization to represent the interests of Bulgarian sport was clearly felt. I am glad that we have now come to the decision that in order to move forward, in order to have a clear and systematic policy in the field of sport, we need to have a united voice to express the common opinion of the Bulgarian sports community", Lecheva clarified, adding that it is very difficult for one minister alone to chart the path in sports policy for the next four years. She stressed the potential and the importance of the new Association in that regard.

All federation presidents present at the press conference agreed on the existing problems of the sport.

"In Bulgaria we take decisions only when we are pushed to the wall", Slavi Binev said, noting that nowadays the situation in Bulgarian sports is exactly that. "Unless very urgent measures are taken, questions like how long will there be no Bulgarian names in the Bulgarian Olympic medalists will become more and more frequent", he added, stating that this problem cannot be solved immediately, but rather with consistent effort.

"I also think that this Association is a bit late", Iliana Raeva said. "All of you who are here and presidents of federations and media, you know the huge needs there are in the sport", she added, hoghlighting the need for respect towards sports from state institutions, manifested in adequate funding. "I feel infinitely offended by the attitude towards sports", Raeva added. "We are beginning a seventh year in which we will go around the institutions to pray for a solution to the hall in which there is no way to prepare our gymnasts normally and optimally. There are no greater ambassadors in the world than Bulgarian athletes. Sport concerns the adolescent, the future generation of Bulgaria. Sport is not only about health, sport is about educating resilient citizens of this country," she said.