THE national Bulgarian volleyball team recorded two defeats and one victory at the Men's World Championship third round tournament, held in Poland, and claimed the play-off third spot in the group, keeping alive Bulgarian hopes of reaching the final round in Japan in 2006.
Bulgaria will now take part into a four-team play off with the other countries that finished third in the other three European third round groups.
Head coach Martin Stoev and his players faced favourites Russia in their opening game on July 15. Bulgaria lost 0-3 (37-39, 24-26, 23-25), but the match was much tougher for the Russians than the final result suggests.
Russia won the opening set after an incredible drama that finally ended at 39-37. It was again just two points that separated both teams at the end of both the second and the third set.
Bulgaria's next opponent was the host team of Poland. Stoev's players suffered another defeat on Saturday. The result this time was 1-3 (16-25, 25-17, 22-25, 17-25), which left no chance of Bulgaria achieving direct qualification for the final round.
The Bulgarians kept their hopes alive by finishing in third place in the group after beating outsiders Estonia 3-0 (25-23, 25-19, 25-21) in their last match on Sunday.  The game was one of the shortest and least dramatic at the tournament, as it lasted only 66 minutes.
"We are very glad that we still have the chance to reach the World Championship Final Round in Japan. We wanted this victory, and that is why we took 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," Bulgarian captain Plamen Konstantinov said after the match.
"The game was very important for us. We needed to win in order to preserve our chances for the final round. The Estonians are not the toughest opponents, but such teams could always be dangerous, if you underestimate their abilities," Stoev said.
The four-team play off will take place in August in Varna, where Bulgaria will have the strong advantage of playing in front an enthusiastic crowd of more than 5000 home supporters.