The national team of Bulgaria for juniors under 18 almost certainly lost chances to qualify for the semifinals of the European Championship, which our country is hosting in Sofia and Plovdiv, after allowing a second loss in a row, reported sportal.bg.
Desislava Velichkova's men fell flat to their peers from Turkey 0-3 (18:25, 23:25, 22:25) in their 5th Group I match of the tournament, played tonight in front of around 250 spectators in the hall "Levski Sofia" in the capital.
In this way, the young "lion cubs" remained in 3rd place in the provisional group standings with 3 wins, 2 losses and 9 points, having a very slim chance of finishing in one of the top two places in the standings and qualifying for the final four. Tomorrow (July 16) is a day off from the tournament, and on Wednesday (July 17) Bulgaria will play their penultimate group game against France. The match is again at 5:30 p.m.
Eric Georgiev (2 blocks and 27% efficiency in attack - +4) and Konstantin Manolev (42% efficiency in attack and 38% positive reception - +2) were the most successful for Bulgaria with a modest 8 points each.
For the Turkish team, Ata Yunver scored 17 points (2 blocks, 1 ace and 44% attack efficiency - +14), and Berk Senturk and Abdulvahap Khan added 12 points each for the victory.