Trampoline and Rhythmic Gymnastics World Championships awarded to Sofia in 2017 and 2018

Sofia in Bulgaria has been awarded the 2017 Trampoline World Championships and the 2018 Rhythmic Gymnastics World Championships ©FIG

Bulgaria's capital Sofia has been awarded the 2017 Trampoline World Championships and the 2018 Rhythmic Gymnastics World Championships at a meeting of the International Gymnastics Federation (FIG) Executive Committee here, it has been announced.

The city most recently staged the trampoline event at the Arena Armeec in 2013.

The 2017 competition is due to take place in the same venue.

The city is also well known to rhythmic gymnasts having been a stop on the FIG World Cup circuit since 2011.

Bulgaria have enjoyed a recent period of success in rhythmic gymnastics, qualifying one individual athlete and a group for next year's Olympic Games in Rio de Janeiro.

They took home team all-around gold at the 2014 event in Izmir, Turkey, and won all-around silver and bronze with the clubs and hoops this year.

Odense, Denmark recently hosted the Trampoline World Championships from November 26 to 29 while the last edition of the rhythmic competition was held in Stuttgart.

Stuttgart hosted this year's Rhythmic Gymnastics World Championships ©Getty Images

Bulgaria has not the Rhythmic Gymnastics World Championships since they held them in Varna in 1987.

This year's Championships took place in Stuttgart, where Bulgaria finished fourth overall on the medals table.

The won a silver in the all-around event and a bronze in the 6 Clubs + 2 Hoops competition.

The 2017 Championships are due to be held in Kazan in Russia.

“Bulgaria has a long and historic Gymnastics tradition, especially in rhythmic gymnastics, and it is a pleasure to see that the Federation continues to take the initiative in organising World Championship competitions,” FIG President Bruno Grandi, who is due to step down next year, said.

“With these two World Championships, Sofia really puts itself on the Gymnastics map for the next Olympic cycle.”

The 2014 World Acrobatic Gymnastics Championships tookplace Levallois-Perret, a commune near Paris ©Wikipedia

The FIG Executive Committee also announced the 2018 Acrobatic Gymnastics World Championships will take place in Antwerp.

World Championships in the artistic, rhythmic and trampoline disciplines are held every non-Olympic year but the acrobatic competition takes place biennially.

The 2016 Acrobatic Gymnastics World Championships are due to take place in Putian in China.

They last took place in Levallois-Perret, a commune in the north-western suburbs of Paris, in 2014.

“Antwerp plays a very important role in the history of Gymnastics: the very first World Championships were held there in 1903,” Grandi said.

“Also, after the success of the Artistic Gymnastics World Championships in 2013, we are delighted to come back to Antwerp with another discipline.”