The Bulgarian male volleyball team finished sixth at the European championships in Ostrava, Czech Republic. In their last match the Bulgarians lost to Poland 2-3 in Vitkovice Hall, which was packed with Polish fans.

Bulgaria ended the tournament with four victories - against Slovenia, Holland, Slovakia and France and three losses - against Russia, the Czech Republic and Poland. The Bulgarian players could not rise above fifth position - which would have qualified them for the next European championships to be held in two years in Greece. They will now have to participate in qualifications.

The Bulgarians started the championship with a 1-3 loss to Russia. The match was played in front of virtually no spectators, but it was obvious from the beginning that the Bulgarian team was overmatched. The Bulgarians' hesitative play and the strong Russian blocks quickly led to a 13-25 loss in the opening game. The second game followed a similar scenario where Russia prevailed both with attack and defense leading to the same result.

In the third game, the young Krassimir Stefanov participated strongly and refreshed the attack. This helped the team reach a victory of 25-20. The fourth game was going point for point and only the Russians' greater experience lead to the outcome of 18-25 and an overall loss of 1-3. After the match, Dimo Tonev, head of the sports-technical committee to the Bulgarian Volleyball Federation, explained that the loss was due to a lack of experience.

The players also lost 1-3 to their Czech hosts, which significantly curbed their chances of qualifying ahead in the ranking list. The games with the Czechs were much closer, - 22-25, 20-25, 25-20 and 20-25. This time Krassimir Stefanov and the best Bulgarian attacker Ivailo Stefanov were disappointing. Plamen Konstantinov scored the greatest number of points with 14.

In the third match of the championships, Ivailo Stefanov made up for his unconvincing play and was named the best player in the game between Bulgaria and Slovenia. He finished with 11 successful attacks and two points from blocks. Nikolai Zheliazkov scored 11 points - eight from attacks, two from blocks and one from service. Plamen Konstantinov also played well. Thus in the third match, which ended 3-0 for the Bulgarians, the leading six players were exonerated. They were Nikolai Zheliazkov, Evgeni Ivanov, Plamen Konstantinov, Ivailo Stefanov, Krassimir Stefanov and Daniel Peev. "The good service and effective blocks were the basis of the success against Slovenia," commented the Bulgarians' senior coach Hristo Iliev.

Inspired by the victory over Slovenia, the Bulgarian volleyball players continued their progress by beating Holland 3-2 in their fourth match. The Dutch were the 1996 Olympic champions in Atlanta.

In the first game the Bulgarians played ruthlessly and showed stability in all elements of the game, especially blocks. The result was 25-22. In the second game the Dutch won 21-25 and they also won the third game 13-25. In the fourth game, after changes made by coach Hristo Iliev, Bulgaria won 25-13.

Bulgaria needed a victory of 3-0 over Slovakia in order to claim a medal, but they lost their first game to the Slovakian team 20-25. From there on the Bulgarians relaxed and won 3-1. The team's captain Nikolai Zheliazkov said that the loss of the first game was due to stress. "After that we played better and had no problems, but it was already too late," he said. Thus Bulgaria remained third in its group after the Czech Republic and Russia, and had to give up hopes of a medal.

The Bulgarians could still hope for fifth place but had to beat France. France had already shown impressive form with its 3-2 defeat of the Italian champions in the preliminary group. The Bulgarians showed their best stuff against the French with precise attacks through the centre and stable play in defense. Plamen Konstantinov, Evgeni Ivanov and Vladimir Nikolov played excellently and this contributed significantly to their 3-1 victory. "We applied a special tactic with which we neutralized the French attack," said the coach Hristo Iliev.

In the decisive match against Poland for fifth position, major players like Ivailo Stefanov and Nikolai Vassilev were not up to standard. After winning the first game, the Bulgarians lost the next two games. Poland won with a 3-2 victory.

Bulgaria took sixth position in Ostrava in 2001 which is an improvement on their ninth position in Eindhoven, Holland in 1997, and seventh in the 1999 Vienna competition. Bulgarian Evgeni Ivanov was named second in blocks among the players at the championships in Ostrava. This is the second memorable achievement of a Bulgarian blocker after Nikolai Zheliazkov's first place at the 1996 Olympic games in Atlanta.