15 sports federations are part of the newly established Association of Bulgarian Sports Federations, whose leadership today gave its first official press conference at the Bulgarian Telegraph Agency.
Ivan Tsenov, former deputy minister of sport and representative of BF-basketball, was elected its chairman.
Vessela Lecheva, President of the Bulgarian Shooting Union and member of the IOC Commission and Slavi Binev, President of the Taekwondo Federation are the two vice-presidents.
The following sports executives are also on the Board Ivan Kolev (Athletics), Georgi Avramchev (Swimming), Krasimir Dunev (Gymnastics), Volodya Zlatev (Badminton), Georgi Bobev (Vice President, Skiing), Andrey Petrov (BFS Executive Director), Rumen Stoilov (judo), Todor Gergov (equestrian), Nikolay Bukhalov (canoe-kayak), Hristo Marinov (wrestling), Iliana Raeva (rhythmic gymnastics) and Rosen Dobrev (handball).
The former Minister of Sport and current head of the shooting federation Vessela Lecheva said that the sport is finally united.
“I want to express my satisfaction that sport can finally be united in a common cause. 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 that expresses the common opinion of the Bulgarian sports community.
It is very difficult for one minister alone to chart the path in sports policy for the next four years. That is why it is very important to have a sports organisation like this as a partner at a time like this. I hope that this organisation will be a successful partner for every minister in the future. I hope that this sports organisation will be united to the end in terms of championing long-delayed issues, particularly those relating to sports infrastructure and investment in coaching staff. So far, issues have been dealt with piecemeal. Sport requires predictability and consistency,” Letcheva said.
