Bulgarian wrestling federation ousts Zlateva, elects ex-world medalist Angelov
A chaotic extraordinary assembly of Bulgaria's wrestling federation removed president Stanka Zlateva and elected Todor Angelov. Zlateva's camp walked out before the vote, calling the meeting illegitimate.
Archive image · Photo: Biser Todorov / Wikimedia Commons, CC BY 3.0 (cropped and resized)
Bulgaria's wrestling federation has new leadership. An extraordinary general assembly, ordered by the Sofia City Court according to Boulevard Bulgaria, on Saturday removed president Stanka Zlateva and the entire management board. Todor Angelov, the only candidate, was elected president with 94 votes, bTV Sport reported. Angelov won silver in the 82-kilogram Greco-Roman class at the 1991 world championships in Varna.
The meeting started late and was turbulent. After a dispute, Belcho Goranov was chosen to chair it; Zlateva had called him a "Trojan horse." Goranov acknowledged irregularities in the registration of club delegates but declared a quorum of 112 clubs. Zlateva, her team and supporting clubs then left the hall, demanding a new assembly. Zlateva did not say whether they would challenge the decisions. An observer from the world federation's ethics commission attended.
Angelov called the post a great responsibility and said he was ready for dialogue with everyone. He was backed by the sport's former financial benefactor Grisha Ganchev and Olympic champions Valentin Yordanov and Armen Nazaryan. Leaving the assembly, Zlateva said she had seen "hypocrisy and betrayal" in what she called this male sport.