The head of Bulgaria’s national wrestling team has gone on hunger strike to protest a proposal to drop wrestling from the Olympics.
Armenian-born Armen Nazarian, the head coach for Bulgaria’s Greco-Roman wrestling team, says he will drink juice but will not eat until the start of the European wrestling championship on March 22.
The 39-year-old coach, who won Olympic gold for Armenia in 1996 and for Bulgaria in 2000, wants the International Olympic Committee to reverse a controversial proposal to drop wrestling from the Summer Games starting in 2020 in order to make room for sports such as rugby and golf.
In a similar protest, Valentin Yordanov, the head of Bulgaria’s wrestling foundation and a seven-time world champion, last month returned his gold medal from the 1996 Olympics.
Based on reporting by AP and AFP