Bulgaria played its weakest match at the home European Championship for U18 men so far. Desi Velichkova's boys suffered a 0:3 (25-18, 25-23, 25-22) loss to Turkey. This result eliminated us from contention for the final four, and it's no longer certain if we will even qualify among the top eight in the championship, as the two toughest matches – against France and Poland – are yet to come.

Already in the first set, it became clear what would follow if our team didn't play as they did in the friendly matches against Italy. Nothing in our game worked, and the Turks slowly and methodically racked up point after point. They met no resistance except for some sporadic flashes in the second and third sets. The frequent substitutions from the Bulgarian coaching staff did not help. The crowd, which chanted and supported the boys, also failed to save the situation. Even the few referee's "gifts" didn't help. Simply put, there was only one team on the court – Turkey. From the dry statistics, it is striking that our southern neighbors made a total of 13 point-winning blocks against only 7 for the Bulgarians. Only two of our players were among the top three in individual elements – overall scoring, attack, block, serve, and reception. These are Konstantin Manolev, who scored 8 points from attack, and libero Dimitar Dobrev. Erik Georgiev added 8 points (2 blocks), and Zhasmin Velichkov scored only 6 points (1 block). For the Turkish team, Ata Ünver scored 17 points (2 blocks, 1 ace, and 44% attack efficiency), while Berk Şentürk and Abdülvahap Han added 12 points each for the victory. After the match, questions remain, and one of them is: was this the best Bulgaria has at this age? Tomorrow is a rest day, and on Wednesday, our team faces France at 5:30 PM.

Photos: Nikolay Varadinov