Vasil Manchenko

Born in France to a Ukrainian family, Vasil Manchenko moved to Bulgaria as a young child. His father had left his homeland, then part of the Russian Empire and later part of the Soviet Union during the Russian Revolution. Manchenko took up basketball in high school and in the 1950s was a member of the Bulgarian national team now considered as their golden team. Although this team never medaled at major international tournaments, they still had the highest major international finishes of any Bulgarian basketball team, placing seventh and fifth at the 1952 and 1956 Olympics, respectively and fourth at the 1955 European Championships. Manchenko also took part in the 1953 European Championships. At the club level, Manchenko played most of his career with CSKA Sofia, winning two national titles (1949, 1951) and two Bulgarian Cups (1953, 1955) with them. He finished his sporting career playing with Spartak Sofia and won his third national title with them in 1956.

After finishing his sporting career, Manchenko, who graduated from Sofia University with a journalism degree, worked as a sports journalist, working with the sports journal Physical Culture and Sports and the National Sport and National Youth newspapers, before moving to Bulgarian National Television in 1970. He was the main editor of the sports section of the evening news and also worked as a basketball, volleyball and boxing commentator. Beginning at the 1972 Summer Olympics, he also headed the Bulgarian National Television team at the next five Olympics and also at many other major international tournaments. Manchenko retired from TV in 1991, but remained active in sports circles. In the 1990s he edited the Bulgarian basketball magazines Basket Mania and Rap Basket and also organized many street basketball tournaments in Bulgaria. In 2013 a street basketball tournament in his honor was held in Sofia.