The President of the Bulgarian Shooting Union and former Minister of Youth and Sports Vessela Letcheva was a guest in the studio of Sportal.bg to comment on current topics related to Bulgarian sport and shooting.
“The year was encouraging because finally the Bulgarian Olympians managed to make us happy with one of our best achievements at the Olympic Games – 7 medals (Paris 2024 is in the Top 5 of our most successful Olympics). Considering the huge competition, the conditions under which our athletes train and the accompanying problems surrounding their training, it is encouraging that there is a new young generation that is extremely talented,” said LetWe have not hosted a major championship for many years, so it is a success for us that the European Confederation has given us its confidence. I am sure that if we perform well, we will get a championship for men and women in the future,” she added.
At the same time, Vessela Letcheva described long-term planning in sport as extremely difficult in this political limbo that has gripped our country.
“It is difficult to work and do sport in this political timelessness. In sport you plan at the beginning of every Olympic cycle, i.e. from now to Los Angeles 2028, and that means relying on consistency, a budget that is guaranteed for the next few years. In most countries they plan even two Olympic cycles ahead.”
She also described as an undisputed success the World Shooting Cup and European Championship medals, as well as winning the hosting of the 2026 Old Continent Junior Championships.
“We have a small, but very good, core in shooting that is world class and could be in the top 8 at any moment. Unfortunately, there was quite a big gap in the results of the U16 athletes. That’s why we have identified 5 athletes in each discipline, so that in the coming years we will have a distinct line-up that will be the core of the national team.”
“Finally Bulgarian shooting has a national home at a relatively high level. We are happy with what we have at the moment as there has been no investment in the sporting facilities of our sport for more than 50 years. This problem concerns all other sports as well. Bulgaria needs multi-purpose training facilities. but we are often denied investment in sport by the state. Sport is in the queue for the allocation of the state budget, and every lev invested in sport is an investment in the health of the young generation,” said Vessela Letcheva.
