Varna, Bulgaria, September 14, 2018 – Bulgaria got back to winning ways after achieving a 3-0 (25-16, 25-18, 25-21) victory against Puerto Rico in the second match for today in Pool D of the 2018 Men’s Volleyball World Championship.
Plamen Konstantinov, head coach of Bulgaria: „The most important thing was to get a 3-0 win and I am happy that we managed to do it with as less efforts as possible. I tried different playing variations and I am satisfied with the perfomance of some of the players who did not take part in the previous matches. I would like to congratulate Teodor Todorov and Svetoslav Gotsev for their great actions on the net. The team of Cuba is a dangerous opponent because they have some really potencial players but on the other hand they are young and less experienced than us. We have to reduce to minimum our unforced errors in order to win easily and stay in the battle for the first places in our pool.”
Nikolay Penchev, player of Bulgaria: „Our loss against Iran definitely reflected on our performance at the beginning of the match today. We started nervously but fortunately we managed to win in straight sets. It was necessary to finish the game quickly and to save as much energy as possible. We are not going to play tomorrow so it is time for a liitle rest and I hope we will be in good condition for our next appearance on the court in Sunday taking on Cuba. They have a young and well physically prepared team but they are not experienced enough and hopefully this will help us to defeat them.”
Oswald Antonetti, head coach of Puerto Rico: “I think that we had hard mental beginning and we were a little bit nervous but we played on a better way in the third set. We will strive to keep the positive spirit in the team in the upcoming matches. Tomorrow we will have a little practice in the gym and after that we will have a walk around the city."
Eddie Rivera, player of Puerto Rico: “Bulgaria’s serve was good! I think that the crowd here makes the difference between Bulgaria and the other teams! The atmosphere is great! Our main goal is to improve ourselves in each game! I am really excited about tomorrow, because we are going sigthseeing! Some people told me that Varna is a great city, so I am looking forward to see it!”