In a contested tournament in Sofia the Bulgarian national side in volleyball reached the semifinals of the European Olympic qualification but lost to Germany and thus missed the chance to get a visa for the London 2012 Olympics. The Bulgarian volleyball players started the tournament quite well and following three consecutive 3:0 wins against Slovenia, Serbia and Spain reached the semifinal versus Germany, a match they lost 1:3 sets. Despite the good play of Bulgaria and the powerful support of audiences, Germany prevailed, while Georg Grozer scored 30 points for the winners. In the wake of the loss coach Radostin Stoychev was dismissed from his post and Silvano Prandi was back as head coach of the national team. Prandi led the national players before Stoychev. At the tournament in Sofia the Italian national side won a quota for the London Olympics following a dramatic match versus Germany that ended 3:2. Bulgaria has another chance of qualifying for the Olympics and this is the intercontinental Olympic qualification due in Sofia from 8 to 10 June. The Bulgarians will play versus France, Egypt and Pakistan. Germany too, still stands chances of qualifying, as Berlin is going to host an intercontinental qualification versus Cuba, the Czech Republic and India.
The struggle for the first place in League A of the Bulgarian football championship two rounds ahead of its end has become bitter. Following a win of FC Ludogorets over FC Chernomorets and a loss by FC CSKA from FC Minior in the 28th round, the lead of CSKA has shrunk to just two points. Last week CSKA lost 0:2 as guest to Minior, and Ludogorets from Razgrad, who ranks second in the interim rankings, defeated Chernomorets 3:1. Ludogorets and CSKA will play in the last round of the championship. Before that CSKA will receive FC Litex, and Ludogorets will play as guest versus FC Kaliakra. In the rankings CSKA and Ludogorets are followed by Litex, FC Lokomotiv of Plovdiv and Chernomorets.
The Bulgarian national team in football remains 96th in FIFA’a May world rankings with a score of 354 points. The national teams of both Georgia and Congo are ahead of Bulgaria that is followed by the sides of Vietnam and Macedonia. Spain is still at the top with 1442 points ahead of Germany with 1345 points, Uruguay with 1309 points and Holland with 1207 points. Brazil is 6th ahead of England and Croatia.
Bulgaria’s best male tennis player Grigor Dimitrov has dropped out from the second round in the tennis tournament from the Challenger series held in Prague. Dimitrov lost to Aljaz Bedene of Slovenia 6:3, 5:7, 2:6. The Bulgarian was successful in the first set but lost in the second one. Bedene prevailed in the third set and removed Dimitrov who left the tournament with a score of 8 points for the world rankings.
The crew of Dimitar Iliev and Yanaki Yanakiev won the 9th edition of the Sredna Gora rally. It represents a round of the national championship and an event from the East Europe Cup. Iliev and Yanakiev are followed by the crew of Krum Donchev and Petar Yordanov followed by Plamen Staikov and Slav Landov.
Translated by Daniela Konstantinova
