Writing an annual sports review is a difficult task. Not because of the topic, but because of the big number of sporting events, containing many details statistic data, etc…It is also a difficult task because of subjective biases.

But we must start from somewhere, for example from individual athletes before drawing a broader picture. In the traditional Sportsman of the Year Award 139 active sports journalists from 49 electronic and print media in Bulgaria gave their vote. The top ten athletes of "Sportsman of the Year 2018" placed in alphabetical order are: Alexandra Nacheva (track and field athletics), Alexandra Zhekova (snowboarding), Bilyana Dudova (wrestling), Gabriela and Stephanie Stoevi (badminton), Katherine Taseva (rhythmic gymnastics),Kiril Milov (wrestling), Kubrat Pulev (boxing), Mirela Demireva (track and field athletics), Stojka Petrova (boxing), Taybe Yusein (wrestling). In the list we see athletes in sports that are “traditionally Bulgarian” and have brought many medals to Bulgaria.  An exception is probably badminton as the Stoevi sisters won the historical European doubles title in Huelva (Spain).

Sportsperson No. 1 in Bulgaria for 2018 is Taybe Yusein. The female wrestler in the 62 kg category is this year's winner of the prestigious prize as well as the winner of another annual award - the Sports Icarus. 2018 has been a very successful one for Taybe Yusein - without a loss on the wrestling mat. In May she became European champion of the championship in Kaspiysk (Russia) and in October on her 27th birthday she won a gold medal at the World Cup in Budapest. In Kaspyisk, Bilyana Dudova defended her European title in the 57 kg category. and coach of the national wrestling team for women Petar Kasabov received the Coach of 2018Award. Staying in the sphere of wrestling, we should point out the success of 21-year-old Kiril Milov, who returned with a silver medal from Budapest. Armenian-born Mnatsakanyan, who recently received Bulgarian citizenship won against Algerian Tarek Aziz Benaissa for just 52 seconds, thus winning a bronze medal in the 72 kg category in Greco-Roman style.

Thinking about other “typically Bulgarian" disciplines like weightlifting, we have to point out young Hristo Hristov, who won silver medal at the Buenos Aires Youth Olympics; became European Junior Champion in the category of up to 94 kg in Milan and won the Bulgarian title in his category for men.

There is not much to talk about Kubrat Pulev who did not have problems against Hughie Fury. But we cannot skip female boxer Stoyka Petrova. At the World Championships in New Delhi, she lost at the final, bringing the silver medal to Bulgaria.

Despite an injury Aleksandra Zhekova performed well at the 2018 Winter Olympics, entering the boarder cross finals and finishing sixth. Zhekova has announced that this would be her last Olympics. The other reason for pride at the Pyongyang Olympics was ski jumper Vladimir Zografski, who finished at the record for Bulgaria14th place. Later, in November, in the second round of the World Cup in Finland, Zografski ranked sixth with a jump of 140 m.

Let’s go back to track and field athletics, where three ladies brought much joy to Bulgaria in 2018. Mirela Demireva and Ivet Lalova were successful at the European Championship in Berlin, as the first won the silver in the high jump and the other finished 5th at the 200-m sprint race. Aleksandra Nacheva from Plovdiv made the Bulgarian flag rise in Buenos Aires at the Youth Olympic Games. The gold medal was her third one from big forums this season. Earlier this year she won a silver medal at the European Championships for girls under 18 in Hungary, and a week later she was victorious in Tampere as a world champion for girls under 20 with a score of 14.18m.

Apparently, we should already talk about “a young wave" in Bulgarian sports, because at the games in Buenos Aires, in addition to Nacheva’s success, Bulgarian athletes won 4 more gold, three silver and two bronze medals. Shooter Kiril Kirov and badminton player Maria Delcheva became champions, while acrobats Mariela Kostadinova and Panayot Dimitrov won two gold medals. In addition, Adrian Andreev won the silver in the doubles tennis tournament. Hristo Hristov placed second in weightlifting and Valentin Andreev won the silver in hammer throw. The bronze medals went to Galya Shatova (weightlifting) and Edmond Nazarian (wrestling).

During the year this country hosted several exceptional sports events. These were the world championships of volleyball, rowing, rhythmic gymnastics, as well as the Sofia Open tennis tournament, which took place in February. The Bulgarian rhythmic gymnastics team won three medals and placed at third place in the overall rankings. The girls took a full set of medals - a gold one, a silver and a bronze after a triumph in the five hoops final, third place in the all-round event and securing a quota for the Tokyo 2020 Olympics. Catherine Taseva, Neviana Vladinova and Boryana Kaleyn won silver in the team event. All these successes brought the national rhythmic gymnastics team this year's award for Team of the Year.

Best Bulgarian sportsperson with disabilities in 2018 was table tennis player Denislav Kodzhabashev, who became world vice champion.

In 2018 Bulgaria hosted the World Championships together with Italy, but our team did not reach the finals in Turin and remained 9th.

There is not much to say about the Sofia Open tennis tournament as the event almost failed and Grigor Dimitrov did not participate. It also became evident that there was no one currently following into the footsteps of Dimitrov, although 2018 was not very impressive in Grigor’s career.

And finally comes king football! The Bulgarian national football team had also been nominated for a team of the year with four consecutive victories during the year. In Sofia, the national team won against teams such as the Netherlands and Sweden - 2:0 and 3:2. Bulgaria also scored 2:1victoryagainst Belarus and 1:0 victory against Saudi Arabia. After that a winning streak came - 2:1 against Kazakhstan, 2:1 against Slovenia, 1:0 against Norway and 2:1 against Cyprus. It was logical that Coach Peter Hubchev received nomination for coach of the year. Ludogorets became Bulgarian football champions for the fifth consecutive time, while Slavia coach Zlatomir Zagorcić was also among the nominated coaches as Slavia won the Cup of Bulgaria.

That is all for 2018 in Bulgarian sports and beyond. Happy Holidays!

English: Alexander Markov