Italian Ambassador with Two Trophies from 'Diplomats and Friends'

Italian Ambassador Marco Conticelli won two trophies in the 7th edition of $Diplomats & Friends" tennis tournament that completed today and took place at the tennis courts of the National Tennis Center at Knyaz-Borisova Gradina in Sofia. Ambassador Conticelli defended his single status from the previous year after outplaying the Ambassador of Denmark, Christian Kønigsfeld in the final in category "Over 50 years". The Italian added to his success the cup for first place in pairs, where his partner was Svetoslav Stankov (Ministry of Foreign Affairs). Stankov himself finished the tournament with two prizes as well, i.e. as the best single in the category "Under 50 years". Ruth Thompson (World Bank) was the best among the ladies in the final, after outplaying Monika Helling, representative of the German Embassy. Winners were awarded by Katerina Genova, Secretary General of Bulgarian Tennis Federation, and Atanas Mladenov – Director of State Protocol Directorate at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. Traditionally, the tournament was organized under the patronage of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. The initiative of the tournament was given by His Excellency the Ambassador of Italy, Mr. Marco Conticelli, and the President of the Bulgarian Tennis Federation, Mr. Stefan Tsvetkov, and was organized with the assistance of Sopharma. Diplomats from Italy, the Netherlands, Germany, Denmark, Slovakia, the USA, Pakistan and other countries joined the tournament together with representatives of various international organizations and institutions, such as the United Nations and the World Bank.