The Bulgarian national muay thai team is keeping on with its great performance at the 1st World Muay Thai Festival in Thailand. 11 of the 17th fighters are headed to the finals in their categories. Nikolai Atanasov is the head coach and Mario Kirilov is his assistant and you can tell they are doing an unbelievable job with the team, leading them to the Glory land.
The only two women in the team – Teodora Kirilova and Karina Petkova won their semifinals.
In the semis, Kirilova (54 kg) outclassed her Portuguese opponent which was coached by the women muay thai legend Dina Pedro. Petkova (51 kg) is also going to the closing round after a hard-fought win against Paloma Arranz from Cyprus.
Petkova will face a Kazakh in her last match, while Kirilova will square up with a Spaniard.
The men likewise the women are storming to the finals. Ivan Ivanov (86 kg) dominated a representative of the home nation and his final opponent is from Italy.
By far the most attractive fight of the semis was the one with Nikolai Yorgov (81 kg). The Bulgarian went through the Ukrainian favorite of his category. It was a battle of experience vs. raw power and will and Yorgov’s physicality got him over the hump.
Petar Stoikov (71 kg) triumphed over Uzbek by landing a massive spinning elbow in his opponent’s head and the ref waived off the fight.
Kostadin Kostov and Hristiyan Totev are also going to the finals after defeating аn Ukrainian and а Pole. Hristiyan Korunchev (75 kg) and Sevdalin Slavov (67 kg) will face French guys in the finals.
Stanislav Valchev (60 kg), Petar Kalchev (63,5 kg) and Georgi Denev (51 kg) couldn’t reach the finals after tough losses by Malasia, Ukraine, and Cyprus.
In the youths categories, Bulgaria will be represented in the finals by Vencislav (67 kg) and Georgi Dalakmanov (71 kg).
The 1st World Muay Thai Festival is being held with the help of Thailand Ministry of Culture and it will come to an end on March 16.
