The first instructor – Lachezar Andreev is a police officer, where his problems came from as in this period karate is illegal occupation in Bulgaria. The next instructor George Popov – comes to Plovdiv in 1981. He starts practicing in the dojo as he has the highest degree of 4th kyu. In these times, the leader of the dojo is still Lachezar Andreev who unfortunately has problems in his work and sto
ps practicing the same year. In 1982 shihan Popov goes to CSKA – Sofia, where together with sensei Bojilov they prepare a student book for hand-to-hand fight for the army. A year later, he comes back in Plovdiv. He has already defended 2nd kyu and has a letter from Sensei Bojilov to take over the Plovdiv dojo, which consists of 35 karatekas in that time. The problems with the authorities keep on and the karatekas enthusiasts change many halls. These obstacles make stronger the spirit of the followers of Oyama Sosai in Plovdiv. In the mean time, the number of people willing to practice karate is growing incredibly and Shihan Popov has to refuse to some of the candidates. The Plovdiv dojo has not only 30-year history, but also a number of quality karate fighters: Atanas Peshev, Dragomir Chavdarov, Spas Vasilev, Ivan Panchev, Krasimir Kotev, Stefan Shishkov, Krystio Kisiov etc. The ladies are not stepping back, too – Petya Miteva is the first lady defended a black belt in Bulgaria, Violeta Minkova, Pavlina Yordanova and much more. All of them represent the Plovdiv dojo with dignity to the international camps, which continue around 12 days under the leading of Shihan Hollander, Shihan Adami, Sensei Drevniak and Shihan Collins. The Plovdiv dojo is the first in Bulgaria after the Varna dojo do organize a National championship. Before all the camps and championships were organized in Varna. As we mentioned about kumite here is the place we have to write about the results of the kumite competitions. The first medal of international competition for the dojo belongs to Shihan Popov, who wins the 3rd place at the prestigious tournament Solnok-Express in Hungary in 1984. Later in 1987 at the international tournament in Varna, shihan Popov wins the championship in the heavy weight division, Petya Miteva wins the ladies tournament and Atanas Peshev and D. Chavdarov become 2nd at the other two divisions. At the same year, Atanas Peshev wins the Oyama Cup tournament in the light weigh division. The national team of Bulgaria often practices in the Plovdiv dojo. Since 10 years, the karatekas of ASKK "Trakia" train in the hall of "Hristo Botev" Stadium. In 2003, the hall was restored and the conditions are up to the modern standards. In ASKC "Trakia" trains the best karate fighter in Bulgaria - Sensei Valeri Dimitrov - 2 times World champion, 11-times European champion.
