The two were welcomed at the airport by the Deputy Sports Minister Prof. Dr. Margaritov and the local EWTO representative Jossif Heder, who runs the WT school in Sofia.
At 10.00 am on the next day Grandmaster Kernspecht and his wife were collected from the hotel by the ministerial car of the Sports Minister and initially taken to the Ministry of Sport with Prof. Margaritov, where press representatives, the national TV station and Kernspecht’s friend Prof. Dr. Kaikov awaited them.
With great ceremony Prof. Kernspecht was received by the Sports Minister Vesela Lecheva and presented with an award for his “outstanding achievements in Bulgarian-German sports and education“, having spent ten minutes answering the minister’s questions about what WingTsun can do for young people, and what specific experiences the EWTO has had in Germany, Austria and Switzerland which might be applied in Bulgaria.
This was aimed at addressing the endemic problem of how to motivate young people towards sensible sporting activities after school, but on school premises. Kernspecht then took up an invitation by the Bulgarian Ministry of Education and Science, where he gave a talk on the educational value of WingTsun in the presence of the Deputy Minister Vanya Dobreva , and learned a great deal of interesting detail about the history of Bulgaria and the role of the German playwright Lessing in the Bulgarian renaissance from this highly educated woman.
Following a joint visit to the Archaeological Museum it was time to make for the National Sports Academy in Sofia, where Prof. Kernspecht was cordially welcomed by the Principal, Prof. Dr. Lachezar Dimitrov and his deputies, the Vice-Principal Prof. Dr. Peter Bonov and Prof. Dr. Lazar Kamenov.
After extensive discussions on how WT might be disseminated via the internationally well-known NSA in Bulgaria, the Principal, who is also the Vice-President of the Bulgarian Olympic Committee, invited him to become a visiting professor at the NSA from October.
The Principal then gave Sifu Kernspecht and Simo a one-hour personal tour of the academy. He also pointed out that the academy had only awarded very few honorary doctorates, including Beckenbauer and the son of the Czar, Simeon II, who had been voted President of Bulgaria by a large majority four years ago.

In the afternoon Sifu enjoyed an espresso and some 70% Dolfin dark flaky chocolate which he had brought with the Dean of the Mathematical High School in Plovdiv, Kirtscho Atanasov, the athletic, 61 year-old Deputy Minister of Education and Science (specialising in secondary education) and a former high school weightlifting champion. Their conversation was translated by Rumiana Taulova, who speaks excellent German and is responsible for European integration and bilateral cooperation. 
In the evening the Sports Minister invited the German EWTO representatives to the best restaurant in Sofia, at the Kempinski hotel. This informal meeting, during which the discussions of that morning were continued, was also attended by Rumania Taulova, the representative of the Minister of Education and Science, and Deputy Minister Margaritov.
This was an opportunity to see parallels between WingTsun and target shooting, at which the minister had been world champion five times. Interestingly she put her weapon in the cupboard after using it at the Olympic Games in Sydney, and never looked at it again. This is a not infrequent occurrence amongst top-class sportsmen, who prefer to retire undefeated at the peak of their powers rather than subsiding into mediocrity as their training frequency decreases.
Like Sifu Kernspecht’s friend and sparring partner, the multiple wrestling world champion and Olympic champion Chivko Vangelov, and the sports minister with whom Kernspecht had had dealings in previous years, the high jumper Stefka Kostadinova, Vesela Lecheva had won a silver medal at the 1988 Olympic Games for Bulgaria in Seoul and became a national heroine.

Next morning Prof Margaritov and his wife, both lecturers for the EWTO’s course of sports education studies, together with Jorgi Markov, multiple world and Olympic champion in wrestling, took Si-Fu and Si-Mo to the airport where he bought Professor Kernspecht six daily newspapers with detailed reports and photos on Kernspecht’s discussions with the ministers. Moreover, seven TV channels had transmitted the discussion between the Sports Minister and the Head of the EWTO.

Keith R. Kernspecht and his wife were impressed by both their welcome by the ministers and university professors and by the unbelievable progress in all areas which they witnessed in the Bulgarian capital.

The EWTO is now looking forward to the autumn, for in the first week of October 2006 an official return visit to the Castle is expected by the different ministers and the Principal of the Sports Academy.