Bulgaria Brightbright Rreturn...Eturn
Total Page:16
File Type:pdf, Size:1020Kb
5th Bulgaria BrightBright return...return... After a four-year absence from the World League Bulgaria returned in 2003 with astonishing power and precision to claim second place in Pool C and march right into the World League Finals. Naturally strong and tall Bulgaria proved that they have the talent and game plan, which will threaten the international Volleyball big boys for years to come, as they knocked over some big names on their way to just missing Coach Milorad Kijac out on a semifinal place on Set Ratio. However, looking at the opening stanza of their campaign, one would not have realised what was in store. Two losses – including an opening round defeat to Cuba – in their first three games and Bulgaria was doing it tough on their return to the premier men’s annual competition. But a re- markable run of seven wins from eight games, including three over Olympic Champions Serbia and Montenegro and Bulgaria sailed through to the top of Pool C and claimed their ticket to Madrid. Their impressive run continued, to an extent. Drawn in the most formidable of pools, Bulgaria went down to both Brazil and Italy before claiming the scalp of old foes Russia, which eliminated the defending champions from the competition. Following that litmus test Bulgaria have laid their cards on the table illustrating that they are a side who will continue to threaten the pace setters, especially with such tall timber as 210 cm-tall Evgeni Ivanov in their ranks. As their star setter and captain Nikolay Ivanov said after the tourna- ment: “We have shown we can play good Volleyball with the best teams in the world.” Bulgarian captain and setter Nikolay Ivanov Bulgaria were formidable on defense Plamen Konstantinov was one of Bul- 62 World League 2003 Final Report garia’s best attacking weapons Host TV Bulgarian block at its best TEAM NUMBERS PLAYERS Birthdate Height Weight Spike Block CAPS Club No. Last/First/Shirt name OG WC Oth. Total 1 Ivanov / Evgeni / Ivanov 03/06/1974 210 98 351 340 4 10 134 148 Slavia 938,400 US$ 2 Tsvetanov / Hristo / Tsvetanov 29/03/1978 198 85 345 330 0 4 73 77 Levski Siconco 3 Valov / Georgi / Valov 06/05/1979 199 92 350 335 0 0 35 35 CSKA Royal Foods 15 matches played: 4 Tassev / Ivan / Tassev 21/03/1967 190 80 330 320 0 0 9 9 Marek Union Ivkoni, Dupnica 9 won 5 Lazarov / Georgi / Lazarov 12/08/1975 205 97 358 336 0 0 23 23 Levski Siconco and 6 lost 6 Kaziyski / Matey / Kaziyski 23/09/1984 202 93 360 335 0 0 7 7 Slavia Bulgaria sets played: 7 Peev / Daniel / Peev 11/05/1970 192 88 325 310 0 0 43 43 Levski Siconco 64 8 Mihaylov / Danail / Mihaylov 01/07/1974 197 87 338 325 0 0 36 36 Levski Siconco 36 won 9 Naydenov / Nikolay / Naydenov 22/04/1974 200 90 338 320 0 0 37 37 Odincovo and 28 lost 10 Mlyakov / Smilen / Mlyakov 17/06/1981 200 98 347 335 0 0 15 15 CSKA Royal Cake 11 Nikolov / Vladimir / Nikolov 03/10/1977 200 95 345 325 0 0 47 47 Levski Siconco 1,447 minutes of play: 12 Ivanov / Nikolay / Ivanov 14/06/1972 192 93 329 323 6 15 180 201 Arcelik 24 hours 7 min. 13 Salparov / Teodor / Salparov 16/08/1982 185 73 320 305 0 0 10 10 CSKA Royal Cake (average: 1 h 36) 14 Hristov / Tsvetan / Hristo 24/06/1980 201 95 345 330 0 0 8 8 CSKA Royal Cake 33,405 spectators home 15 Yordanov / Boyan / Yordanov 12/03/1983 197 86 358 335 0 0 0 0 Levski Siconco (average: 5,568) 16 Milushev / Danail / Milushev 03/02/1984 200 93 358 335 0 0 0 0 Cherno more BASK 17 Konstantinov / Plamen / Konstantinov 14/06/1973 202 93 347 330 5 8 191 204 Iraklis 15 players used 18 Samunev / Stoyan / Samunev 15/04/1983 202 95 349 338 0 0 0 0 Lokomotiv World League 2003 Final Report 63 5th Spain Super spirit... The hosts of the 2003 World League Finals continued the excellent progress they made with their youth- ful team in 2002 by repeating their fifth place finish. But ultimately it was the unconvincing and inconsistent Pool play which will concern Spain’s Volleyball aficionados for the rest of the season as they struggled for any domination before finishing third in Pool A behind Russia and Poland. They started well with two wins over Coach Francisco M. Hervas the Poles but then lost four on the trot, home and away to defending World League titleholders Russia. The remainder of the Intercontinental Round cam- paign was a mixed bag of success in Poland and failure in Venezuela. Despite their third place finish, Spain, as hosts of the 2003 World League Finals, had an automatic ticket, where they turned up the heat on their play for their home crowd and played with fantastic spirit and diversity before being des- perately unlucky to miss out on the semifinals. After opening Pool E with a stunning victory over Greece, the “La Furia“ lost to Serbia and Montenegro before going down to the Czech Republic. The fans played their part but Spain missed their great opportunity to progress to the semifinals by losing to the World League debutants in four sets but they will take plenty from their performance and talent such as cap- tain Rafael Pascual, Juanjo Slavador and Enrique De la Fuente will ensure that the Spanish spirit stays alive. Libero Manuel Berenguel receives Juan Jose Salvador is one of Spain’s star players Cosme Prenafeta informs the server 64 World League 2003 Final Report Host TV Guillermo Falasca serves TEAM NUMBERS PLAYERS Birthdate Height Weight Spike Block CAPS Club No. Last/First/Shirt name OG WC Oth. Total 1 Pascual / Rafael / Pascual 16/03/1970 194 96 355 329 13 16 419 448 Peruggia, ITA 880,400 US$ 2 Saucedo / Gustavo / Saucedo 05/01/1978 199 91 346 325 0 6 78 84 Nice Volleyball, FRA 3 Antequera / Rubén / Antequera 09/03/1981 203 95 340 320 0 0 10 10 Par-ky Menem, BEL Spain 15 matches played: 4 Flores / Alfonso / Flores 24/08/1975 190 90 340 330 0 0 148 148 Numancia Caja Duero 6 won 5 Suela / Luis Pedro / Suela 07/07/1976 193 90 343 320 5 6 112 123 Unicaja Almería and 9 lost 6 Vega / Juan Carlos / Vega 15/09/1975 192 92 341 317 0 16 182 198 C.V. Festival Park sets played: 7 Gens / Jordi / Gens 21/07/1978 185 86 342 325 0 0 45 45 Nice Volleyball 66 8 Sánchez Mordós / David / Sánchez 20/07/1973 195 90 320 303 0 0 8 8 C.V. PTV Málaga, Málaga 28 won 9 Valido / Alexis / Valido 09/03/1976 186 88 325 312 6 6 111 123 VB Friedrichschafen, GER and 38 lost 10 Prenafeta / Cosme / Prenafeta 09/12/1971 186 74 325 316 5 16 153 174 Unicaja Almería 11 Carreno / Carlos Luis / Carreno 19/04/1973 198 82 345 321 5 16 288 309 Unicaja Almería 1,661 minutes of play: 12 Falasca / Guillermo / G. Falasca 24/10/1977 200 106 340 325 0 16 141 157 Roeselare , BEL 27 hours 41 min. 13 Casilla / Jose Antonio / Casilla 29/08/1979 199 88 345 315 5 0 93 98 Unicaja Almería (average: 1 h 51) 14 Molto / Jose Luis / Molto 29/06/1975 206 94 352 329 5 16 221 242 Roeselare, BEL 13,760 spectators home 15 Sevillano / Manuel / Sevillano 02/07/1981 194 88 342 319 0 0 21 21 Numancia Caja Duero, Soria (average: 2,293) 16 Salvador / Juan Jose / Salvador 18/12/1975 200 95 352 329 5 6 253 264 Unicaja Almería 17 De La Fuente / Enrique / De La Fuente 11/08/1975 194 92 348 328 5 16 260 281 Piacenza, ITA 16 players used 18 Berenguel / Manuel / Berenguel 26/06/1970 187 85 322 296 0 0 9 9 Unicaja Almería World League 2003 Final Report 65 7th Greece Great result... After two years of nearly break- ing through to the World League Finals, 2003 brought a reward for all the hard work and effort Greece has put in over the past four years when they qualified for Madrid as the third-best sec- ond placed team. For the Stelios Prosalikas coached side it bodes well for the Athens Olympics next year. They earlier indicated their intentions of having that as the main goal and the fashion in which Greece qualified was exciting to say the least. Three wins from three and Greece were Pool D leaders but then Prosalikas’ side could only register one win in four games, including two at home. With World League debutants the Czech Republic knocking over everyone in their way, it was up to the Greeks to race France for second place. It came down to the final weekend and a rare victory in the Czech Republic gave Greece the coveted spot ahead of the World Championship bronze medallists by one point, also qualifying ahead of Poland as the third-best runner up. However once in the World League Finals, Greece, despite their enthusiasm and moments of top brass Volleyball, were outclassed, losing all three matches to hosts Spain, the Czech Republic and Serbia and Montenegro. They will be wiser for the experience. Defi- nitely one of the success stories of the World League, Greece will take this moment as a great leverage to bigger and better things when the Olympic Games comes knocking on their front door.