Snow Volleyball

First-ever Snow Volleyball national championship successfully delivered in Bulgaria

News

Article Mon, Apr 4 2022

Bulgaria has expanded the ever-growing list of countries delivering a Snow Volleyball national championship this year – and their achievement is especially remarkable since the Bulgarian Volleyball Federation and promoter ‘Perelik Infrastructure Company’ joined forces to run such an event in the Balkan country for the very first time in history.

The medallists from the first ever Bulgarian Snow Volleyball national championship held at Perelik Peak

Perelik is the highest peak in the Rhodopes Mountains – and the seventh highest Bulgarian mountain range. This is where the inaugural Bulgarian Snow Volleyball national championship took place this past weekend – as the Bulgarian Volleyball Federation has drawn ambitious plans to grow the youngest and coolest version of the Volleyball game in their country.

The eventual winners were the teams representing Smolyan (men) and Varna (women). The competition did feature trios or quartets representing cities rather than clubs. Nikola Lazarov, Georgi Fisinski and Vilian Hadzhiev composed the winning team in the men’s tournament, as Veselina Kotseva, Elizabet Kasadzhikova and Simona Nikolova can proudly call themselves the first-ever women’s Bulgarian champions. Prize money – equally distributed among men and women – was at stake as well. Team Smolyan-2 beat Smolyan-1 (Pavel Dushkov, Dimitar Mehandzhiyski, Zguro Pandevski) in the men's final 15-12, 11-15, 15-10, as Team Varna beat Team Pleven (Ana Boynova, Stefani Ivanova, Gergana Petrova) 11-15, 15-11, 15-11 in the women’s gold medal match.

Mr Stanislav Nikolov, Administrative Director of the Bulgarian Volleyball Federation, and Mr Marin Zahariev, Deputy Mayor of Smolyan, were among the VIPs to attend the medal ceremony.

The area of Perelik has become a popular destination for those interested in winter sports and holidaymakers alike. After this premiere, the Bulgarian Volleyball Federation is hoping to run more Snow Volleyball events in 2023 to fulfil the interest of athletes and fans.  

“The interest in Snow Volleyball is growing with each day. Next year, all our winter resorts are willing to host tournaments. We can say that the planning phase has already begun."

Lubomir Ganev
President of the Bulgarian Volleyball Federation and member of the CEV Board of Administration

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