Shooting champion Grozdeva withdraws boycott threat

Bulgaria's Maria Grozdeva celebrates during the medal ceremony for the women's 25-metre pistol of the Athens 2004 Olympic Games in Athens, August 18, 2004.

SOFIA (Reuters) - Double Olympic shooting champion Maria Grozdeva has withdrawn her threat to boycott the London Games after Bulgaria's Prime Minister guaranteed funding for her preparations.

"We had a meeting with (Sports Minister) Svilen Neykov and he informed me that they personally solved our problem with Prime Minister Boyko Borisov," Grozdeva, who has competed in five previous Olympics, told local media on Friday.

Grozdeva, who won golds in the women's 25m pistol at the Games in 2000 and 2004, as well as Olympic bronze medals in the 10m air pistol in 1992, 1996 and 2004, had made her threat after her shooting club Levski Sopharma were expelled from the federation for not participating in domestic competitions.

The 39-year-old Grozdeva, who was named Bulgaria's athlete of the year in 2004, said she did not take part in the national tournaments because she was competing abroad at the same time and she called for the shooting federation chief's resignation.

"Prime Minister Borisov has called me to express his support," Grozdeva's coach Valeri Grigorov, who is also her husband, said. "He told us to continue training as there'll be no problem with funding. We're very thankful for this."

Grozdeva will compete in the European championships in Finland this weekend, along with the 49-year-old Tanyo Kiryakov, also a double Olympic champion, who will try to qualify for his seventh Games in a row.

(Reporting by Angel Krasimirov; Editing by Clare Fallon)