Grandson of legendary Norair Nurikyan is football player participating in youth championship of Bulgaria

Norair Nurikyan is a weightlifting legend from Bulgaria. Born in 1948, Nurikyan is Bulgaria’s only two-time Olympic weightlifting champion (1972 and 1976) and a two-time world champion.

Norair’s father, Aram Nurikyan, barely escaped with his family from the Turkish massacre in Adana during the Armenian Genocide, swimming with others to Romanian shores. Many moved to the Bulgarian town of Sliven almost immediately; there was already a small Armenian community. With their arrival, the number of Armenian families was more than 300, and Aram himself added to it by marrying a refugee from Armenian Cilicia like him. Already in 1948, Norair was born.

In 2011, Norair Nurikian was the guest of honor at the Pan-Armenian Games in Yerevan, and it was not the first time the famous weightlifter came to Armenia. Back in the 1980s, he confessed in an interview with famous journalist Levon Azroyan that wherever he went, he always looked for Armenians in every country.

Nurikyan’s grandson, who is also named Norair Nurikyan (born in 2007), is a football player. He plays in the Bulgarian youth championship for Levski U17.

Norair Jr. was born in the USA but started his career with the Bulgarian team ‘Lokomotiv Plovdiv’. He is part of the Bulgarian U15 national team.

Norair is a striker. He scored 11 goals in the U16 championship last season.