The captain of the national volleyball team Plamen Konstantinov (“Gibona”) won the prize “Man of the year” on a special ceremony yesterday in the Military club.

Gibona received a unique sabre with his name engraved on the blade. The sabre is the masterwork of the president of the “Kessar” jewellers – Vasil Popov.

The sabre is 84 cm long and weighs 1300 grams. It is accompanied by a quality certificate and registration as a lethal weapon. The prize winner is also given a 60 year old whiskey “Johny Walker” – blue label.

Plamen made the following statement:
“I am honored to receive this award. I want to dedicate it to my father, who is the main influence on the person I am right now. This was a difficult year for me, but I see that many things beside the sport have influence over my victory. I am at the end of a very contradictory year, but I’m very proud of this recognition – because it does not reflect simply the sport successes, but my qualities as a human.”

Konstantinov is the sixth sportsman to win the “Man of the year” prize. Emil Kostadinov is the first sportsman, chosen to be a “Man of the year” (1993) after the start of the inquiry in 1990. Next year, 1994, another football player – Hristo Stoichkov – won the prize. After several years of prizes for politicians, the prize comes back to the hands of sportsmen. In 2000, the shooter Tanio Kiryakov took the prize. In 2004, the gymnast Iordan Iovkov won, and in 2005 it went to the chess World champion Veselin Topalov.