2006 World Championships   More World Championship news       Tournament info: Poland 

Russia clinch title as Bulgaria claims play off spot

Rzeszow, Poland, July 17, 2005 – After both Russia and Poland had claimed the two Final Round tickets on offer at the 2006 Men’s World Championship third round tournament – Europe Pool L on Saturday, the two tournament favourites fought out a terrific duel on the final day on Sunday with the world number four prevailing 3-2 (25-21, 25-16, 23-25, 20-25, 15-12). The victory gives Russia the tournament title while Bulgaria kept their Final Round hopes alive by finishing in third after beating Estonia 3-0 (25-23, 25-19, 25-21) in the early match.

Bulgaria will now head into a four-way play off with the other teams who finish third in the other three European third round tournaments.

It was a fascinating day to wrap up the tournament but unfortunately for Estonia, ranked 49th in the world, it brought the curtain down on a wonderful World Championship campaign which had seen them advance from the first round right through to this third round tournament.

Unfortunately, when it came to playing three teams inside the world’s top 16, the hurdle was too big. Their final match against Bulgaria was one of the quickest they played finishing in one hour and 12 minutes.

“We are very glad that we still have the chance to reach the World Championship Final Round in Japan,” Bulgaria captain Plamen Konstantinov said. “We wanted this victory that is why we treated this match very seriously. What we knew about the Estonian team is that they are very young and inexperienced but still can be very dangerous for they fight until the last ball.”

In the second match Russia almost crushed their opponents in less than 20 minutes but Poland staged a magnificent comeback fighting all the way with some outstanding play.

The last set particularly was pure Volleyball. 4,952 spectators saw marvelous blocks, kill serves, spectacular digging but unfortunately couldn't celebrate the victory of their heroes. Once again the Russian team proved to be better. The last point for Russia was left for MVP Semen Poltavsky.

“It was a good match, especially for the spectators,” Russian captain Konstantin Ushakov said. “For us the most important thing was to win the ticket to Japan. We did it. Right now nothing else matters.”

“First of all I am very glad because we reached the World Championships Final Round,” Poland head coach Raul Lozano said. “I would like to thank to our spectators who helped us to achieve this. The Russians made it very hard for us today. Yesterday we were better in every element of our play, today especially in the first two parts the Russians were dominating. They deserved this victory. Congratulations to them.”