The Vice-President of the Bulgarian Volleyball Federation, Petar Kanev, spoke at a press conference on the occasion of the awarding of the national women's U19 team, which became world champions more than a month ago. The team received the 'Team of the Month' award in Bulgaria.

The success of volleyball

"We in the federation are extremely pleased with the success. Volleyball has established itself as the most successful native team sport. When we started five years ago, there were only three teams that wanted to participate in the women's championship -Maritsa(Plovdiv),CSKAandSlavia. Perhaps we were headed towards the extinction of the sport. Gradually, things started to happen. And this season, the Demax group will have 10 teams, and we have 15 applications for women's Group B," said the Member of Parliament.

Halls and infrastructure

Kanev emphasized the need for more small sports halls in the country:
"In Bulgaria, we already have enough large sports halls; we don't need more. We are of the opinion that 20 or 30 more halls, like those in Dragoman and Stara Zagora, which are for a few hundred spectators, should be built. Then we will have good infrastructure for sports."

Sponsors and funding

The Vice-President also commented on the development of the women's championship:
"There will be an influx of sponsors in women's volleyball. I regret that the other two vice-presidents are not here - Iliya Dinkov fromMaritsaand David Davidov. The first big sponsor isDemax, then cameefbet. 200-250 thousand leva are provided for holding the championship, the federation gives nothing and that is normal. We are talking, we have a helping hand from the Ministry of Youth and Sports.

He emphasized that in addition to political will, constant work is also needed:
"We try, as a politician I can promise many things, but in the federation a lot of work must be done and Bulgaria must be traveled, as it was 30-40 years ago."