World legends beat Bulgarian stars 3:2 in the benefit show of former volleyball national team Teodor Salparov “One career - One legend“. The show match was held in front of more than 9,000 spectators in “Arena 8888“, BTA reported. The stands were attended by President Iliyana Yotova, Mayor of Sofia Vasil Terziev, Chairman of the Bulgarian Olympic Committee Vessela Lecheva, Minister of Sports Encho Keryazov and Minister of Culture Evtim Miloshev.
Among the special guests were also Hristo Stoichkov, Stiliyan Petrov and Martin Petrov, as well as the current men's national volleyball team of Bulgaria. Five games were played in the show 15 points, and the son of Teodor Salparov – Georgi also took part.
The Bulgarian stars started stronger and won the first game with 15:10. The strong performances of Nikolay Penchev and Tsvetan Sokolov contributed to their success. The World Legends tied after a dramatic second game, which ended 16:14. However, the Bulgarian team came out ahead again after a decisive 15:7 in the third part.
The President of the Bulgarian Volleyball Federation Lyubomir Ganev gave the opening blow in the fourth game, which ended with success for the World Stars – 15:12.
In the decisive fifth part, the world team reached the victory with 15:11. The final success was sealed by a successful attack by Samuele Papi.
The World Legends team included a number of the biggest names in volleyball: Samuele Papi, Uros Kovačević, Jacopo Massari, Zimon Tischer, Alexander Volkov, Rafael Pascual, Mark McGivern, Nikolay Pavlov, Sergio Santos, Aleksandar Atanasijevic, Ivan Milković, Emanuele Birarelli, Michele Baranović, Dante Amaral, Srečko Lisinats and Marko Podrasčanin.
Their coaches were Alberto Chiaparini, Alberto Giuliani and the Bulgarian national team coach Gianlorenzo Blenghini.
The Bulgarian stars were played by Andrey Zhekov, Georgi Bratoev, Evgeni Ivanov, Hristo Tsvetanov, Svetoslav Gotsev, Boyan Yordanov, Krasimir Gaidarski, Georgi Seganov, Vladimir Nikolov, Nikolay Ivanov, Viktor Yosifov, Kostadin Stoykov, Georgi Salparov, Tsvetan Sokolov, Teodor Todorov, Todor Aleksiev, Danail Milushev and Nikolay Penchev.
The team was led by Radostin Stoychev, Alexander Popov, Nayden Naydenov and Stefan Hristov. After the end of the match, Lyubomir Ganev and Hristo Stoichkov sent special congratulations to Teodor Salparov.
„This is a respect for all these legends, with whom I have played for 20 years. I wanted them to feel the atmosphere. I hope this continuity remains between generations. We will keep our fingers crossed for our young volleyball players, I hope they will please us with a medal at the European Championship“, said Salparov after the end of the spectacle.
A large part of the proceeds from the benefit match will be donated to the „Sunny Children“ foundation.