Bulgaria is very active and participative in a lot of sports. In fact they brag numerous medals thru it.
The country is known for their aggressiveness in the field of sports. The most popular sport in the country however is not basketball instead they are more fond of playing football. The citizens therealso enjoys sports such as volleyball, sumo wrestling, chess and rowing sad to say in this country basketball is of least important.
Although basketball is not that popular in the country, the government still supports the said sport and is taking some actions in order for it to become widespread. One way of making basketball known in their country is by creating the Bulgaria national teams that would represent the country in international competitions.
The government believes that by doing that the citizens in their country would realize the worth of basketball. The government hopes that by the national team bringing honor to the country, which for sure will make the citizens proud, in that way the people there will embrace basketball more and begin to love it. Let us now discuss the two Bulgaria national teams in basketball:
Bulgarian men’s national basketball team
Among the Bulgaria national teams, the first team created was the Bulgarian men’s national team. The government chose to create this team first because the gender who plays basketball most around the world was men. The team managed to make the country proud of them they gathered some achievements and ranked high in some Eurobasket tournaments.
The team ranks 44th in the FIBA ranking, they had participated four times in Summer Olympics and twenty-three times in Eurobasket tournaments.
A particular event that made basketball known in the country was when the team had won a silver medal in the 1957 Eurobasketball League followed by a gold medal in year 1961. By that event the citizens in Bulgaria became more hooked in the said sport, the youth began to play basketball more often compared before. Because of the visibility and high rankings in most basketball competitions by the men national basketball team women became fond of playing too.
Bulgarian women’s national basketball team
After the men national basketball team made basketball more known to the country youth began to aspire to become a basketball player and what shocked the government most was women started to play basketball as well. That made the government happy for their efforts in making basketball widespread is slowly being paid off.
After knowing that they decided to create the Bulgaria women national basketball team, this team is considered one of the most successful among Bulgaria national teams because of their numerous achievements especially when they won silver medal in the 1959 FIBA World Championship women division.
They also ranked 5th in the 1988 Olympics and had ranked second in the 1984 Moscow Summer Olympics. Thru these achievements the citizens became more aware of the existence o basketball in their country for even women had excelled in the sport that they almost neglected.