The first months of 2026 were filled with exciting victories for the young martial arts talent Valeria Georgieva. She participated in a series of judo and sambo tournaments, where she had excellent performance and once again proved that she has a bright future in sports ahead of her.
The series of successes began with the State Individual Judo Championship for boys and girls (senior age), which was held on February 21-22, 2026 in Stara Zagora. Although at first the athletes of SC Lokomotiv Sofia, including Valeria, did not achieve particularly strong results, on the day of the heavyweight categories she demonstrated true championship spirit, fought her way through a series of exhausting additional matches that gave her a second chance to compete for a medal, and ultimately secured third place. This was not only a personal success for Valeria herself, but also for the entire team, as her bronze medal remained the only distinction for the team for the entire competition day.
Just a week later – on 28.02., the young athlete again demonstrated what she is capable of, this time in the field of sambo. At the State Individual-Team Sambo Championship for boys and girls under 18 and under 20 years of age in Panagyurishte, she performed at a very high level, overcoming a large part of the competition, which brought her the bronze medal.
Valeria achieved her greatest international success of the season in Plovdiv during the XI International Judo Tournament “Gladiator OPEN”. The event took place on 26 April and brought together 603 athletes from 46 clubs from Bulgaria, France, Greece, Serbia, Cyprus and Ukraine. In this highly competitive international environment, Valeria played her matches flawlessly under the flag of “Lokomotiv Sofia” Sports Club and won 1st place and the gold medal. Her triumph, along with that of her teammate Viktor Nikolov, was the only gold for her team of this tournament and brought it to the third place in the team ranking for girls.
Valeria completed the series of impressive performances on May 31 with her participation in the large-scale Sambo Tournament for Children “Pernik Cup”, organized by the Sports Club for Martial Arts “Krakra Pernishki” together with the Municipality of Pernik and the Bulgarian Sambo Federation. She played strong matches in her category, showing perfect technique and good tactical thinking. Valeria reached the final battle and was awarded a diploma and a medal for 2nd place. With this silver, she solidified her reputation as a complex competitor who transfers the successes from judo directly to the sambo arena.
All these achievements are eloquent proof that Valeria Georgieva has enormous potential that will be fully unfolded in the future. We at “Mihaleva for Hope” are proud to be a part of her journey and contribute to her development as a gifted young athlete.
