Konstantinov and Nikolov look happy with their squad's performance on Friday
Varna, Bulgaria, July 10, 2015 – Good serving indicates good shape. This is the opinion of Bulgaria’s coach Plamen Konstantinov, which he shared at the press conference after his team won the Group 2 semifinal against Belgium, acing 12 times. Here is what was said...
Sam Deroo, captain of Belgium: ”I am disappointed with the performance of the team. We had a good fighting spirit at the beginning and played a good first set, but after that we lost it. Bulgaria started to serve well and made it difficult for us. Our story ends here unfortunately and we will not be able to chase our goal – the Final 6 in Rio. We will still try to grab the bronze tomorrow.”
Dominique Baeyens, coach of Belgium: ”I am also disappointed by the performance of my team. Congratulations for Bulgaria! They were serving very well, especially Nikolay Nikolov in the second set. This brought a lot of frustration in my team. It was difficult to develop the main play of the team with good defence and long rallies. Now we have to gather together and focus on tomorrow's match because the third place is always better than the fourth, even only for the points.”
Vladimir Nikolov, captain of Bulgaria: ”It was important for us to win today. Belgium played well, and, believe me, it is hard to play in defence against a well-serving team as ours was today. Now we need to save the energy for the final tomorrow.”
Plamen Konstantinov, coach of Bulgaria: ”I am happy about how Bulgaria played today. Sometimes it is difficult to be the favourite, because this can be very stressful. The first set was not good for us, but I have seen that if we play calmer we will succeed. This is what happened afterwards. Some players about whose condition I was so sure provided great performance today - Nikolay Nikolov, for example. And also it is good that we found our serving. Good serving indicates good shape.”