Rumen STOILOV, President of the Bulgarian Judo Federation is a happy man. “Bulgaria has been developing the Judo for 80 years and this is the first time we are hosting European Judo Championships with the participation of 361 judoka from 40 countries. It was our honor and pleasure to welcome in Sofia the elite of Europe’s judo and I am sincerely happy to share that the organisation of the Championships ran smoothly and exceeded my expectations. And for that, I would like to express my deepest gratitude towards our colleagues from EJU and IJF, towards the Organising Committee and towards all the volunteers, all of whom worked tirelessly for the success of this event”, tells the retired businessman. He has been at the helm of the federation since 2018.
Also from a sporting aspect the home European Championships were a huge success. Stoilov. “I am content with the achievements of the Bulgarian judoka – those two medals and the 7th place they earned represent Bulgaria’s best ranking in more than 10 years and I am confident that the best is yet to come and this result will be improved sooner rather than later.”
Facts & Figures European Championships Sofia 2022:
- The organisers had a team of 20 full-time-staff and 95 volunteers.
- More than 5.000 spectators were counted on the three days of competition.
- Yanislav GERCHEV (-60) won his third silver medal for Bulgaria, Mark HRISTOV (-73) won bronze on Saturday, it was the 30th European Championship medal for the host in the history of the 70 editions.
- Only Francisco GARRIGOS (ESP/-60) managed to defend his Lisbon title in Sofia.
- Shirine BOUKLI (FRA) and Romane DICKO (FRA) were the only number one seeds who managed to win the European title in Sofia.
Judoka
Author: Wolfgang Eichler