Mexican-Bulgarian coach "Tatko" Zaprian Petrov passed away on July 23, 2017.
Petrov was born in 1958 in Stransko, southern Bulgaria. He was a four-time Bulgarian national champion before achieving a postgraduate degree in physical culture in Sophia. In 1992, following advice of his wife, who was hired as Gymnastics Coach in México, he moved himself to México City with his two kids to start to work as head coach at the National Preparatory School Campus 3 of National University.
Petrov became a Mexican citizen in 2002. Many university classes of wrestlers called him "Tatko" (Bulgarian for "dad") due of his charismatic, affable way of always being interested in the integral development of every athlete he met, not only his own team wrestlers.
In addition to his almost two decades winning national championships teams titles, coaching dozens of National Team members, Pan American and Central American champions and his key role promoting women's wrestling in México, he will be remembered as a wrestler on and off the mat. He was run over by a car in 2010, spending about two weeks in a coma with several fractures, overcoming against medical predictions to come back to coach four years later.
In 2012, National University authorities named "Zaprian Petrov Doytchev" the wrestling hall where he coached almost 20 years in México, in recognition of his contribution to the institution and to Mexican wrestling.
