Varna, Bulgaria, August 10, 2019 – Another straight-set victory set the end of day 2 in Pool A of the FIVB Tokyo Volleyball Qualification. An hour and a half was all it took to the host Bulgaria for a 3-0 (25-20, 25-22, 25-12) succes over Puerto Rico. Thus the lions maintained their second place in the standings and tomorrow will fight Brazil for the desired Olympic quota.
Silvano Prandi, Bulgaria head coach: “I perfectly know my players. I see what they can during the practices so I am not surprised with their performance at all. We had some ups and downs in today’s game but I am generally satisfied. What about the game tomorrow? Brazil is the favorite! They have their amazing volleyball history and traditions, their team and big achievements. Despite that I hope that we are going to play a great match tomorrow.”
Martin Atanasov, Bulgaria player: “This win was important for our self confidence in the next game. I am happy that we brought joy to our spectators. There is always a pressure but I am satisfied that I managed to improve my performance point by point playing better and better. Our fans gave me wings and I was like unstoppable on the serving line. I hope that tomorrow all of my teammates will have wings and all of us will serve perfectly. That’s the way we could beat Brazil.”
Maurice Torres, Puerto Rico captain: "I think we performed pretty well in the first two sets excluding some mistakes we made. And then in the third set we played very bad. We got out of rhythm and we couldn't get back in. To play like this is really embarrassing but it's the sport and sometimes it just happens. ”