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WELCOME TO THE OFFICIAL WEB SITE OF BALKAN ATHLETICS (ABAF)



    News



    18 February 2012 - Balkan Indoor Championships - Itsanbul'2012

    The 15th Balkan Indoor Championships took place on 18 February 2012 in Istanbul, as a test event for the World Indoors three weeks later. All 11 ABAF federations were represented plus two guest nations; athletes from Slovenia and Azerbaijan took part out-of-competition, thus helping the overall level of athletes’ performances.

    It was a historical event being the first Balkan Indoor Championships held in Istanbul and the first international competition on the newly built Atakoy Sports Arena. Until now only the Greek capital had suitable facilities to host the Balkan Indoors, therefore all previous editions were held in Athens. There is still work to be done in terms of construction details and final touches; though the LOC is confident they will manage to finish everything on time.

    The Arena is compact and cosy; has 7500 seats located very close to the track which gives the audience the unique experience of literally “feels the athletes’ breath”. Two giant HD video boards where tested with live TV broadcast. A small warm-up area beneath the North stand was used for the Balkan event, though a bigger warm-up track will be available for the World championships in the adjacent basketball hall, which will be connected to the athletics arena by a tunnel.

    For the first time a 4 x 400m relay was held during a Balkan Championships – it was a non-scoring event this year, as it is not included in the Balkan Championships Regulations. ABAF Competition Committee will study the options of making the relay part of the official indoor programme.

    The general organisation of the Balkan Indoor Championship was very good, proving the capacity of Turkish Athletic Federation to deliver an excellent World event in Istanbul, 9-11 March 2012. We wish our colleagues good luck and success!

    Official Results - Men

    Official Results - Women

    See gallery here: http://bgathletic.com/photos.php?g_id=105

    photos by Yana Kasova http://www.bgathletic.com



    1 December 2011 - First Balkan Athletics Gala - Pravetz'2011

    The first awarded in the history of Balkan Athletics athletes are: Ivet LALOVA (BUL) and Fatih AVAN (TUR). The Balkans Rising Stars in athletics are: Bianca PERIE (ROU) and Mihail DUDAS (SRB).



    1 December 2011 - ABAF Congress



    1 December 2011 - New Athletics Stadium in Pravetz



    Welcome to the Balkan Athletics Gala 2011!



    28 November 2011 - Balkan Athletics Gala 2011 Official Press Conference

    A press conference was held today in Sofia to promote the Balkan Athletics Gala. Mr.Dobromir Karamarinov - President of the Association of the Balkan Athletics Federations has given an outfit for athletics training to newly elected Mayor of Pravetz Mr. Rumen Guninski, as a symbol of his involvment with Balkan Athletics.

    Special Plaques of Appreciation was presented to the partners FiBank, Master Card and Eurohol, whose contribution was essential for the starting of the Balkan Athletics Gala.



    Vote is closed

    The vote for Balkan Athlete of the year is now closed.

    The selection of the winners shall be made by a combination of the online voting, available to fans and general public, which has one third of the voting strength. E-mail votes received from a selected pool of Balkan Media & Specialists in athletics have also one third voting strength. ABAF experts’ panel composed by the Council Members forms the third part of the voting strength.



    Results from the on-line voting:



    Croatia is becoming the 11th ABAF Member Federation



    Following the decisions of ABAF Congress held in Tenerife on 13 October 2011, the athletic federations of Croatia and Slovenia were invited to join the Association of the Balkan Athletics Federations. From a geographical, historical and political perspective those countries belong to the Balkan area. They are considered part of the Balkan family as Balkan athletics championships were held in Zagreb and Ljubljana in the past.



    Croatia gave a positive answer right away, thus becoming the eleventh ABAF member federation, sharing rights and responsibilities with the federations of Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Greece, Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia, Moldova, Montenegro, Romania, Serbia and Turkey. The formal membership is to be officialised by next ABAF Congress; in the meantime our Croatian friends are warmly welcomed to all ABAF activities. We believe they would contribute to the strength and prestige of the Association.



    27th World Mountain Running Championships 2011 in Tirana - OFFICIAL RESULTS

    Official Results - Download PDF file here!





    Sergei Bubka is coming to Pravets for the Balkan Gala

    IAAF Vice President Sergei Bubka (UKR) is going to visit Bulgaria as special guest for the First Balkan Athletics Gala. The Gala is organised by the Association of the Balkan Athletics Federations (ABAF) and will take place in hotel “RIU Pravets Golf and Spa Resort” on 1 December 2011. Representatives of the 10 ABAF member federations will attend the ceremony as well as the Balkan Athletes of the Year (one male and one female) who will be awarded with special prizes.

    Aside from his leading position in the IAAF, Sergei Bubka is member of the International Olympic Committee (IOC), in his sports career he has won many times World and Olympic gold medals and he is the reigning world record holder in pole vault. The IAAF will be represented at the Gala in Pravets also by Ahmed Al Kamali (UAE), newly elected IAAF Council Member and President of the Athletic Federation of the United Arab Emirates.

    The visit to Bulgaria of Bubka and Al Kamali was negotiated during IAAF Congress in Daegu by the President of Bulgarian Athletic Federation Dobromir Karamarinov. Bubka and Al Kamali confirmed today their attendance to the ceremony in Pravets.

    IAAF guests and their colleagues from the ABAF will arrive to Bulgaria on 30 November 2011. Before the Gala they will visit the newly rebuild Stadium in Pravets, which should be entirely reconstructed by 1 December 2011 in order to meet all IAAF certification requirements.

    “The visit of Bubka and Al Kamali to Bulgaria is just another IAAF recognition for the work of the Balkan Association” said Dobromir Karamarinov, ABAF President. “There is a tendency in our sport to increase the role of the Area Associations - we all saw in Daegu what the concurrence is at world championships. The young athletes should grow up and develop in a suitable concurrence for their age. We are good friends with Bubka and Al Kamali but we also have close partnership and professional relations with them.





    27th World Mountain Running Championships 2011 in Tirana

    Although Albania is a mountainous country with the highest peak Korab (2764m), the mountain running as sport discipline has just stared to develop in this part of the world. It is one of the first time, that a country with no Mountain running tradition is hosting the Championships. Even more, in 2011 Albanian runners participated World's top event for the first time.





    IAAF World Indoor Championships in Athletics - Istanbul, Turkey - 9/11 March 2012

    Famous as the only city in the world that straddles two different continents (Europe and Asia), the historical city of Istanbul is one of the largest metropolitan areas in the world, with a population of nearly 15 million. The old capital of the legendary Ottoman Empire is now one of Europe’s youngest and most exciting cities.

    The World Indoors will take place in the Sinan Erdem Dome , which has a capacity of 17,500 seats, just 10 minutes away from the international airport.





    The First Balkan Gala will take place on 1 December 2011

    in the city of Pravets, Bulgaria (50 km North-East from Sofia).

    It will be a special ceremony to award the Balkan Athletes of the Year (one male and one female athlete), selected by open voting. The aim of the Balkan Gala is to attract more attention from media and spectators to our sport and to motivate the best Balkan athletes to participate in Balkan Championships. The Ceremony shall be held in elegant atmosphere with VIP guests and large media coverage. Along with the Gala, the entirely reconstructed athletics Stadium in Pravets shall be officially presented.

    Additional information about the nominations and voting procedure shall be available soon.



    Dear friends,



    BALKAN VOLUNTEERS

    is an important programme for the implementation of volunteering in the Balkan area. The ABAF and Bulgarian Athletics are inviting all volunteers with experience in long distance running to take part in the preparation of the World Half Marathon Championships to be held on 6 October 2012 in Kavarna/BUL.

    The Organising Committee is preparing a general Questionnaire available to download here: VOLUNTEER’S QUESTIONNAIRE. If you are interested in volunteering for the event, please fill in the questionnaire, add any additional information you feel relevant, and return it to the ABAF Head office and the Organising Committee for the World Half Marathon Championships Kavarna 2012:

    volunteers@balkan-athletics.eu

    You are welcome to the Balkan athletics family and your contribution to our favorite sport - athletics is appreciated!



    Dobromir Karamarinov,

    ABAF President





    19-21 July 2011 First IAAF Site visit for the World Half Marathon Championships Kavarna 2012

    is being held in Kaliakria resort.

    Paul Hardy (CAN), IAAF Competitions Director (left) and Dobromir Karamarinov, President of Bulgarian Athletic Federation start discussions

    Otto Klappert (GER), IAAF Organisational Delegate.

    Carlo de Angeli (ITA), IAAF Senior Competitions Manager (left) and Massimo Magnani (ITA), Technical Delegate.



    1 July 2011 - An Extraordinary ABAF Congress

    was held today in hotel Sport Palace in Sliven, before the start of the Balkan Championships. All 10 Member Federations were represented by their delegates.

  • A new ABAF logo and flag were approved. A decision was taken to compose an anthem of the Association and present it during next Congress. Another major decision was to move the Headquarters of ABAF from Athens to Sofia. The ABAF Statutes and Competition Regulations were changed and updated.
  • A “Balkan Athlete of the Year” ranking was inaugurated and criteria were set for the nomination and selection of athletes. The winning athletes shall be awarded during a special Balkan Gala ceremony at the end of the year. The ABAF shall explore the possibilities for selling TV rights of the Balkan Championships. The delegates discussed the idea of inviting Croatia and Slovenia to enter the ABAF family.
  • Next ABAF Congress shall be held in Tenerife during the European Athletics Convention.
  • 1 July 2011 - One day before the beginning of the 64-th Balkan Athletic Championships, the president of ABAF and president of Bulgarian Athletic Federation Dobromir Karamarinov, together with the Host of the Championships - the Mayor of Sliven city, Yordan Lechkov, gave an official press conference.
  • Balkan Athletic Championships - Sliven'2011
  • RESULTS - Balkan Mountain Running Championships: Dimitrovgrad (SRB)
  • Balkans - Bulgaria is a host of the 11-th European Cup Winter Throwing

    • Bulgarian heads European Athletic Association commission for the first time

    Bulgarian Athletics Federation President and Balkan Athletics President Dobromir Karamarinov has become the first Bulgarian to head a European Athletic Association commission. At a meeting of the European Athletics Council in Frankfurt (7/6/2011) Dobromir Karamarinov was elected chairperson of the Mountain Running Commission. In addition, he and Spain’s Jose Luis de Carlos will continue heading European Athletics Competition Committee.

    Three ABAF representatives in European athletics Council

    The role of the Balkan countries reached new level during the 22nd European Athletics Congress in London. Three representatives of the Association of the Balkan Athletic Federations entered among the 13 members of the Council - the ABAF President Dobromir Karamarinov /BUL/, Munir Yarash /TUR/ and Gabriela Szabo /ROU/. Hansjorg Wirz was reelected as President of European Athletcs. It is second period in the Council for Karamarinov and Yarash and first for Szabo.

    “I am glad that for the first time in history there are three Balkan members in the European Athletics Council. It comes to prove the growing importance of our area in Europe”

    The newly elected Council Members visited the Olympic Park in London, guided by Lord Sebastian Coe, President of the Organising Committee for the Olympics 2012.

    On the Picture – the new/old European Athletics President Hansjorg Wirz (on the right) congratulates ABAF President Dobromir Karamarinov for his reelection for another term in European Athletics Council.


Head Office:

75, Vassil Levski Blvd., 1040 Sofia, Bulgaria

phones: (+359 2) 9885462; (+359 2) 9300669

fax: (+359 2) 9880714

headoffice@balkan-athletics.eu