One of Bulgaria's top swimmers in recent years, Antani Ivanov, has been detained in Blagoevgrad on Wednesday (February 7). The swimmer and his friend Boris Panayotov were held for 24 hours, according to reports from bTV and Struma.com.

Boris Panayotov, who is also a swimmer, was found with a glass pipe containing cannabis. Anthony, on the other hand, had a plastic grinder with traces of the same narcotic substance, the publication further writes.

While training, he went live on television and announced: “It wasn't as it appeared everywhere. We're not behind bars. There was a small amount in us. The police searched us”. “A bad coincidence. I offered to take a test, but the police didn't want to. Then they let us go. The police said it was a minimal amount of weight, to have any serious consequences for me”.

He also said that he already regrets it and wouldn't want it to happen again. At present, Ivanov has been sanctioned for 3 years for damaging the prestige of the Swimming Federation. Another case with his participation awaits international development - a two-year suspension of his competitive rights for missed doping tests.

*Antani Ivanov competed in the men's 50-metre butterfly, men's 100-metre butterfly and men's 200-metre butterfly events at the 2017 World Aquatics Championships. He became the first Bulgarian to qualify for a final at such a competition since Mihail Alexandrov in 2007.