Bulgarian Tennis Federation (BFT) received a special award from the International Tennis Federation (ITF) for the successful development of junior tennis in the country at the annual general assembly of Tennis Europe in Slovenia on Friday. ITF President and IOC member David Haggerty and Tennis Europe interim President Giorgio Di Palermo presented the award to BTF Deputy Chair Georgi Krumov.
The prize was awarded for the strong performance of Bulgarian tennis talents last year.
Bulgarian U18 women’s team featuring Ivana Ivanova, Rositsa Dencheva and Aleksandra Gabrovska won the European Team Cup in August 2023.
Dencheva and Elizara Yaneva became European U16 doubles champions. Dencheva also won a bronze medal in singles at the European Under-16 Championships.
Bulgaria currently has four tennis players in the top 34 of the ITF junior girls rankings: Ivanova is No. 16, Yaneva is No. 22, Dencheva is No. 23 and Ioana Konstantinova is No. 34. The country also has three representatives in the top 100 of the ITF junior boys rankings: Alexander Vasilev is No. 61, Anas Mazdrashki is No. 70, while Ivan Ivanov is No. 95.
Ilian Radulov finished third in the ITF World Tennis Tour Junior Finals tournament which features the best eight tennis players under 18 years of age.
/RY/