Tension surrounding the "Athlete of the Year" ranking in Pernik led to a strong statement from VC "Minior" - Pernik. The volleyball club officially announced via a statement on its Facebook page that it does not accept the ranking method and will not participate in the ceremony under the current conditions.

The reason is the ninth-place ranking of athlete Boyana Boyanova in the poll. She is part of Bulgaria's national team for women U21, which finished in fourth place at a World Championship D an achievement of the highest international rank in the youth calendar.

The club emphasizes that such a result should be among the leading criteria when determining the award recipient. According to the management, success at a world championship is surpassed in significance only by participation and distinction from the Olympic Games. In this specific procedure, no athlete with an Olympic presence participated, which, they claim, makes Boyanova's position even harder to explain.

In their statement, "Minior" declares that they do not diminish the achievements of the other nominated athletes, but they consider it unacceptable for a result from a world forum to be placed after successes of a lower competitive rank. According to them, such a ranking calls into question the application of the previously announced criteria in the survey form and does not provide a real assessment of the international achievement.

The club emphasizes that this stance is a matter of principle and goes beyond this specific case, as it affects every athlete whose results do not receive an objective evaluation. As a sign of disagreement with the ranking method, "Minior" officially withdraws Boyana Boyanova's candidacy from the competition.

The case raises questions for the organizers of the poll regarding the transparency of the voting and the weighting of the individual criteria. A reaction is expected from the municipality and the commission that prepared the final ranking.