London2012: Bulgaria, US, Brazil record wins in volleyball

By Ashley Williams

LONDON (TheSportsNext) August 1, 2012: Bulgaria joined gold medal favorites Brazil and United States on victory trail Tuesday as they stunned Poland by 3-1 at the Earl’s Court Arena in the London2012 Men’s Volleyball tournament.

Tsvetan Sokolov was the main player who inspired the Bulgarian volleyball team to an impressive victory over Poland while the United States easily shrugged off Germany by 3-0 and world champions Brazil sent Beijing2008 bronze medalists Russia packing with 3-0 triumph.

Poland, who raised their reputation by winning the World League going into the London 2012, were regarded as one of the gold medal contenders but failed to live up to the expectations in the match against Bulgaria where they completely lost the script.

Bulgarians came into the London 2012 Olympic Games with a turbulent phase following their Olympic qualification as their coach and best player opted out of the London 2012 after developing huge differences with the country’s federation.

So the clash between the two East European teams in the West London was heavily favoring Poland especially when they had support of over 15,000 enthusiastic fans inside the Earl’s Court Arena.

However, Bulgarians turned the tables successfully and became the only team with victories in their first two matches and now are comfortably placed on top of Group A with maximum six points.

Poland will have to pull up their socks and take inspiration from Sunday’s victory over Italy as they have three more games to put their house in order.

The Unites States defeated Germany by 25-23 25-16 and 25-20 in just an hour and 23 minutes.

Brazil got the better of Russia despite of resting their inspirational captain Giba and whelmed in all the three sets to join the United States on top of the Pool B.

In another Pool B match, Serbia defeated Tunisia 3-1 to record their first win in the London2012 Volleyball tournament.

Italy, who were hammered by Poland on Sunday, resurrected their game and chances with a 3-1 victory over Argentina in the Pool A while Australia outclassed pointless Great Britain by 3-0.