Happy birthday to Valentin Lazarov!

Today is the 80th birthday of one of the legends of Bulgarian basketball officiating - eng. Valentin Lazarov. The former international referee has more than 540 games at the highest level, and has been part of more than 20 European and world championships finals.
 
Lazarov is one of the biggest specialists in interpretation of the rules of basketball. 
 
He became a referee in 1950, and eight years later - in 1958 he became a FIBA international referee. In his long career he has awards such as "Big Cup of FIBA Europe for contribution to the basketball game and basketball officiating" in 2002 and also "Gold Basketball Oscar" of FIBA and IBF in 2003.
 
He is an international FIBA instructor, as he has participated in more than 318 international seminars in 126 different countries. In the last two years he was part of the Can Do Basketball Referee Camp that took place in Samokov and Varna in Bulgaria.
 
The management of the EUROHOLD Balkan League wishes Valentin Lazarov a happy birthday, and wishes him health and prosperity