Pancho Paskov | |
---|---|
Born | Sofia, Bulgaria | 9 May 1994
Sport | |
Country | Bulgaria |
Weapon | sabre |
Hand | right-handed |
National coach | Ivailo Vodenov |
Club | Sveshnikov |
FIE ranking | current ranking |
Pancho Paskov (Bulgarian: Панчо Пасков; born 9 May 1994) is a Bulgarian sabre fencer.
Paskov trained at Sveshnikov Club and at the Vasil Etropolski Academy in Sofia. In the 2011–12 season he won a silver medal at the Mediterranean Championships in Poreč.[1] In the following season, at the age of 17, he reached the table of 64 at the Plovdiv World Cup.
In 2015 a knee injury compelled him to stop training for months. Lack of funds also prevented him from taking part in World Cup competitions.[2] However, he ranked amongst the top four at the Prague pre-olympic tournament in April 2016, securing his qualification to the 2016 Summer Olympics. He is the first Bulgarian Olympic fencer since the 1988 Summer Olympics in Seoul.[3] In the men's sabre event he created a surprise by eliminating World No. 1 Alexey Yakimenko in the first round, but he lost in the table of 16 to Germany's Matyas Szabo.[4]