Bulgaria to field 13 competitors at the European Canoe-Kayak Championships in Plovdiv

From 14 to 16 July, 750 male and female competitors from 36 countries will compete for the medals. The championships also include para-canoe and para-kayak events. The head coach of the national team, Milko Kazanov, has selected a squad of 11 athletes. They are in good health, their preparation is up to standard, and the coach expects them to perform well, he said at the “Bulgaria” Press Club.

World champion Staniliya Stamenova will compete in the 200-metre single canoe event. Young canoeist Angel Kodinov will be putting his skills to the test in the 500-metre single canoe event.

In the women’s kayak events, we will be counting on two pairs: Olimpia Dusheva and Plamena Saykova will together tackle the 200-metre distance, whilst in the other boat, Daniela Nedeva and Anastasia Lavrenova will compete in the 500-metre and 1,000-metre events.

In the men’s kayak doubles, Daniel Karakolev and Stanislav Dimitrov will compete in the 200-metre event. The other men’s kayak pair consists of ViliyanBachvarov and Hristo Rekov, who will compete in the 500 m. The pair, along with Kristian Dushev and Todor Kolevski, will compete in the 500-metre kayak fours, whilst Kristian will also compete in the 200-metre single kayak. We will also see Miroslav Kirchev

The Bulgarian Canoe-Kayak Federation would like to thank Plovdiv City Council and Minister Krasen Kralev for their support in organising this prestigious event, which will bring together the elite of the sport from across Europe.

The local authorities in the city beneath the hills have ensured that the facilities at the rowing canal have been refurbished, in particular the hangars and the finish tower, to which a lift has been fitted, making it accessible to para-athletes in wheelchairs, emphasised the federation’s executive director, Evelina Petrova.

The Ministry of Sport has allocated a dedicated budget of 400,000 leva to the federation for hosting the event. However, without the construction of an additional warm-up channel, we will not be able to organise European and World Championships after 2018, noted Olympic champion Nikolay Bukhalov – a member of the organising committee for the European Canoe-Kayak Championships.

Next year, Plovdiv will host the World Junior Canoe-Kayak Championships, and our country had promised to have the training facility ready, but this will not happen by 2018, Bukhalov added. The reason is the legal proceedings brought by environmental organisations. This is holding up work on the project.

BNT HD will broadcast the finals of the European Championships live

You can follow the live results here: http://europecanoeevents.com/events/results