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Hundreds of Varna residents applauded the performances of our national sumo players in Mall Varna. The giants not only quaked the shopping mall but also attracted the attention of visitors from 1 to over 81 years of age. The residents and guests of the sea capital watched, commented, took interest in and documented in pictures and video the 40-minute show held in the midst of the super-visited shopping mall on Sunday evening.
The event was the first such demonstration of sumo held in a non-sports facility and the first comments were really positive.
The President of the Bulgarian Sumo Federation Petar Stoyanov himself was the commentator explaining the subtleties, moves, rules and values of sumo. The viewers were located not only around the dohyo, but also filled every place providing visibility to the demonstration over the 4 floors of Mall Varna.
The sumo players drew the attention of people of all ages, gender, interests, social status, etc. Because of the numerous spectators on all 4 floors of Mall Varna, the guards asked the visitors not to lean on the handrails in their attempts to see more of the sumo-players demonstration.
For the first time the heat-up shiko was lead by the 6-year-old Balkan champion Zdravko Stoyanov. He set the rhythm of exercises for Dimitar Dimitrov, Todor Djurov, Mihail Iliev, Anna Metodieva and Maria Georgieva. The Chief’s Son impressed the Varna audience with his excellent split and the sumo-players from the national  team, dressed in the traditional mavashis, showed their art in Mall Varna for over 40 minutes. One of the expected players, Hristo Hristov, was watching from aside and was giving guidance due to health problems.
Despite the invitation of sumo-players to anyone who would like to go out on the dohyo to get their first sumo lesson and fight the giants, no one was brave enough to volunteer. Each spectator got a specially prepared leaflet with the history, the successes of the stars of Bulgarian sumo.
The event was organized by the Bulgarian Sumo Federation, the Municipality of Varna and Mall Varna. In addition to providing a delighting experience to the visitors of the large shopping center, the idea behind the event was to announce the European Sumo Championship for men, women and youths up to 21 years old in Varna on May 25 – 28, 2010.