Eleven matches in 15 days could be an advantage for the Bulgarian volleyball team at the upcoming World Cup in Japan (November 18 to December 2), according to national coach Martin Stoev.
This 12-team tournament is a first and definitely best chance for a place at the 2008 Olympic Games in Beijing to be won. Bulgaria is targeting a top three finish to avoid the next qualifying tournaments.
Japan proved to be a happy hunting ground for Stoev’s team, who won third place at the World Championship less than a year ago. Coach and players expressed their optimism when leaving for Tokyo via Paris on Wednesday afternoon. Stoev was bringing his team to Japan 10 days ahead of the World Cup in order to adapting to time difference.
“It’s going to be a very tough tournament, with 11 games in 15 days in four different cities,” Stoev said. “In my opinion, fitness could be a more important factor than the class. Our team is comparatively young so I think it will be an advantage over at least half of the opponents. Obviously some teams are better and we may be considered favourites along with Brazil and Russia. Spain and the US are the other main rivals. The Spanish team is very experienced but the question is if they will keep their physical level during all 15 days. Our first game of the tournament is against them and a victory will give us a flying start. But we need to be 100 per cent focused in every game. You never know when your players could have a bad day and I’m expecting some surprises.”
The competition system of the 2007 World Cup is the single round-robin system. Each team plays once against each of the 11 remaining teams. Points are accumulated during the whole tournament, and the final ranking is determined by the total points gained.
Bulgarian team starts with three games in Matsumoto: vs Spain (November 18, 8.05am), vs Egypt (November 19, 6.05am), vs Puerto Rico (November 20, 6.05am). Then moves to Toyama to face the US (November 22, 11.35am) and Brazil (November 23, 8.05am). Next comes Okayama for another three games against: Korea (November 25, 8.05am), Australia (November 26, 8.35am) and Tunisia (November 27, 8.35am). The final site is Tokyo, where Stoev’s team completes the tournament versus Russia (November 30, 9.35am), Japan (December 1, 12.30pm) and Argentina (December 2, 7.05am).
If fail to finish in top three, Bulgarian team will have to persuit the Olympic visa through one Continental Olympic Qualifying Tournament (December 1 to January 15) or the following three World Olympic Qualifying Tournaments – May 23-25 in Dusseldorf, Germany (top team qualifies), May 30 to June 1 in Portugal (top team qualifies) and May 31 to June 8 in Japan (top team plus best Asian team qualifies). A dozen of teams will compete in Beijing Olympic games.
