Bulgaria is in the top three in terms of the total number of medals won at the European Boxing Championships for men and women in Belgrade (April 18-28). Since the beginning of the tournament in the Serbian capital, our national team has performed impressively, securing 11 honors out of 12 possible.
A total of five of our boxers reached the finals in both genders and will play for the gold this weekend. Six others were eliminated in the 1/2-finals and have already won bronze.
Under the guidance of Borislav Georgiev and Roman Tsvetkov, Zlatislava Chukanova (cat. 50 kg) and Svetlana Kamenova (57 kg) will box for the women’s continental title on Saturday. Sevda Asenova (48 kg), Venelina Poptoleva (52 kg) and Asluhan Mehmedova (63 kg) finished with bronze medals.
Stanimira Petrova, the favorite for gold in the women’s 54-kilogram category, did not enter the ring at the “Pionir” hall in Belgrade due to illness. This is the only category in which our country was left without an award.
The men have announced three more finalists who will step into the ring on Sunday. Led by coaches Joel Arate, Valentin Poptolev and Alexander Alexandrov, Javier Ibanez (57 kg), Radoslav Rosenov (60 kg) and Rami Keuan (75 kg) will fight for the title. Ergunal Sebakhtin (48 kg), Yasen Radev (54 kg) and Yordan Morehon (+92 kg) took bronze.
Only two countries have more guaranteed medals at Euro `24 than the Bulgarian national team. These are the host Serbia and Russia, which was admitted without any arrangements to participate. Organizers in Belgrade invoked the rules of the international federation (IBA), which never imposed sanctions on Russian officials after the start of the 2022 invasion of Ukraine.
The IBA is run by Russian functionary Umar Kremlov, close to head of state Vladimir Putin, and is out of favor with the sport’s world governing bodies. It was excluded from the IOC, and in Paris 2024 boxing for the second consecutive Olympic Games will be directly administered by the Olympic movement.
“The results and the game in Belgrade can only make me happy and make me feel proud of what we have achieved – the president of the Bulgarian Federation, Krasimir Ininski, commented on the achievements of our boxers. – We have not finished our work yet, there are five finals to come, but the assessment is certainly is very good. Let’s not forget that this is a European championship, it’s not a random tournament. We are a dominant force.”
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