For the first time in the history of the Beach Pro Tour world beach volleyball series, a Bulgarian men's pair reached the quarterfinals. This happened on Saturday afternoon at the Sveti Vlas Futures tournament, where Dimitar Mehandzhiyski and Dimitar Kalchev achieved a dramatic victory against the Argentinian tandem Valentino Salem and Ramiro Sanser with 2:1 (21:18, 15:21, 15:9).
The Road to Success
After their defeat in the group stage by Joppe Van Langendonck and Kian Verkauteren from Belgium – U21 world champions, Mehandzhiyski & Kalchev were forced to play an eighth-final. The Belgians defeated them with a decisive 2:0 (21:10, 21:17), which sent the Bulgarians into the eliminations but motivated them further.
With strong support from the Bulgarian audience at Venid Beach, the boys showed fighting spirit and composure, overcoming the Argentinians in a tense match full of twists and turns and emotions. After the victory, Kalchev exclaimed:
"Thank you very much to everyone who supported us! The feeling is brutal!"
For his part, Mehandzhiyski emphasized:
"This is the first time we've experienced such an emotion – so many people cheering for us. We've improved our level and shown that we can do a lot."
Battle for the Semifinal
Later on the same day, Saturday at 6:00 PM, Mehandzhiyski & Kalchev are to face the top-seeded pair – the Slovak duo Ľuboš Nemec and Adrián Petrúf. The match will decide who will secure a place in Sunday's semifinals of the tournament.
Bulgarians in the Tournament
The pair Mehandzhiyski & Kalchev remained the only Bulgarian representatives in the competition across both genders after the end of the group stage and the elimination matches on Saturday morning.
In the women's category, Darina Kindova and Eleonora Gicheva recorded the best performance, playing a hard-fought match against the Norwegians Frida Berntsen and Oda Steinsvåg, but lost 1:2 (16:21, 21:12, 5:15), despite Kindova's 12 aces.
The historic achievement of Mehandzhiyski & Kalchev is an inspiration for the entire Bulgarian beach volleyball community. They prove that with hard work, support, and ambition, Bulgaria has a place among the best on the world stage.
