Lausanne, Switzerland, June 28, 2016 - Bulgaria are yet to claim a win in the 2016 edition of the FIVB Volleyball World League. Leading Group 1 scorer Tsvetan Sokolov will hope to end their winless streak in week 3, however, when his team travel to the Pool H1 tournament in Dallas to play hosts USA, Russia and Australia.
Quick links: Bulgaria began their World League campaign in Kaliningrad, Russia where matches against world champions Poland, Serbia, and hosts and Olympic champions Russia failed to produce a victory. That pattern was repeated in Belgrade in week two, where coach Plamen Konstantinov's men lost to Iran, hosts Serbia and record World League winners Brazil.
Sokolov (first right) received the World League Best Opposite Spiker award in 2013 Sokolov’s scoring prowess, however, remains unquestioned. With 108 points to his name, the Bulgarian leads the scoring ranking in Group 1 after two weeks of play, 13 points ahead of Matt Anderson of the United States and 15 ahead of Ricardo Lucarelli of Brazil. In Belgrade last weekend, Sokolov scored 19 points against Iran, 21 against Serbia and 12 against Brazil to add to what was already the highest individual scoring total in the group at the end of week one.
FIVB Volleyball World League Group 1 - StatisticsMeanwhile, four players have passed the hundred-point mark in World League Group 2. They are: Ahmed Elkotb of Egypt (125 points), Kunihiro Shimizu of Japan (123), Olli-Pekka Ojansivu of Finland (116) and Michal Finger of the Czech Republic (113). Marko Bojic of Montenegro (125) and Venezuelan Kervin Pinerua (116) have done the same in Group 3.
Related news:Sokolov on target for Bulgaria