2006 Men’s World Championships – Hungary & Bulgaria
Bulgaria and Turkey through to third round while Slovenia upset Hungary for second round ticket (FIVB)
05/15/2005
May 15, 2005 – A thrilling come-from-behind victory for
Turkey over Slovakia 3-1 (20-25, 25-23, 25-21, 25-23) on
Sunday saw the world number 40 finish second at the 2006
Men’s World Championship second round tournament -
Europe Pool E in Varna, Bulgaria to advance to the third
round with tournament winners Bulgaria, who ended
Romania’s World Championship dream with an efficient 3-0
(25-14, 25-22, 25-22) win to finish the tournament
unbeaten. Meanwhile, in Hungary, Slovenia pulled off a
huge upset to beat the hosts 3-1 (25-20, 18-25, 27-25,
25-21) to advance to the second round, while Azerbaijan
beat Moldova 3-1 (25-19, 25-18, 26-28, 25-16) to finish
third. Pic: Bulgaria thank their fans
Both tournaments offered exciting conclusions on Sunday
with Romania, who started their World Championship
campaign in the first round, and Turkey both in the
position where they could deny Bulgaria a third round
ticket depending on their results, however the
calculators weren’t needed with Bulgaria and Turkey
comfortably finishing first and second respectively in
Bulgaria, while Slovenia beat Hungary in “the final” to
determine the tournament winner.
In Bulgaria, Romania finished third with one win and two
defeats while Slovakia finished bottom of the four-team
table without a victory.
“We played consistently during the whole tournament in
Varna,” Bulgaria captain Plamen Konstantinov said.
“However it was not good to allow a sudden fall like
yesterday against Slovakia. This is mostly due to a lack
of consistency in the team. We will play much better
from now on and we are already thinking about the World
league match against Cuba.”
Meanwhile, Turkey coach Nedim Yozbey was wrappd with his
side’s performance. “It was very brave for our players
to win this game the way they did. The importance of the
match put some pressure on us and we were stressed at
the beginning, right until the end of the second set,
when we knew that we will be the winners. Once we took
control it was easy to win.”
In Hungary, it was a very happy Slovenia coach who saw
his side stay alive in the World Championships. "Hungary
is a good team, but today we were better,” Gregor Hribar
said. “I changed a lot of players in my starting team,
and the new players wanted the win. I'm not surprised,
because we came to win the tournament."
The next tournaments to feature in the 2006 Men’s World
Championship are two first round events in Thailand and
Costa Rica and a second round event in Portugal all
running from May 20- 22.
