Bulgarian Taekwondo Athletes Claim Five Medals at Riga Open
Jerusalem, 31 August, 2026 (TPS-IL) -- Riga (BTA) – Bulgarian athletes won two gold, one silver and two bronze medals at the Riga Open 2026, a G1-ranked taekwondo tournament in the capital of Latvia.
In the women’s 49kg category, Aleksandra Georgieva won gold, while Teodora Marinova took bronze.
Georgieva secured the title with a commanding victory over Romania’s Mihaela Nicoleta Claudia Bajan in the final. The Bulgarian won the first round 10-0, before the Romanian withdrew in the second. On her way to the title, Georgieva defeated Ukraine’s Zlatoslava Volosenko and Poland’s Wiktoria Bayer, winning both bouts 2-0 in rounds.
Teodora Marinova also put in a strong performance in the category. She defeated Ukraine’s Anastasiia Volosenko 2-1 in the quarter-finals, before losing 0-2 to Bajan in the semi-finals. The Romanian subsequently lost the final to Georgieva.
In the women’s 57kg category, Bulgaria’s Stanislava Kostadinova was knocked out in the first round after losing 0-2 to Ukraine’s Daria Kostenievich.
In the men’s 87kg category, Andi Vladimirov claimed Bulgaria’s second gold medal. The national team member defeated Germany’s Vincent Hormann 2-0 in the final. Earlier, Vladimirov had beaten Andreas Theocharous of Cyprus and Jonas Petersen of Denmark, both by 2-0.
Stanislav Mitkov won silver in the men’s 63kg category. The Bulgarian reached the final with victories over Ukraine’s Artyom Kuznetsov and Greece’s Petros Alexandros Sarkaou, both by 2-0. He then lost 0-2 to Germany’s Feyyaz Gumus in the title bout.
The other bronze medal for Bulgaria was won by naturalized Iranian Omid Hosseini in the men’s 80kg category. He recorded two victories, beating Ireland’s Ryan Dooley and Sweden’s Tim Alding 2-0, before losing 1-2 to Evangelos Charalambous of Cyprus in the semi-finals.
Stefan Stamenov finished without a medal in the men’s 74kg category. The Bulgarian lost his opening bout 1-2 to Spain’s Aleksander Hakobyan Vardanyan.
One of Bulgaria’s leading competitors, Hristiyan Georgiev, was unable to compete at the tournament because of injury.
