World Volleyball Champions Brazil Admit Letting Bulgaria Win

Brazil beat their Latin American rivals Cuba to win their third consecutive volleyball title. Photo by BGNES

Brazil won the World Volleyball Championship for the third time in a row after crushing Cuba 3:0 in the final in Milan, Italy.

The Brazilians triumphed over their Latin American rivals after they beat Italy 3:1 in the semi-final.

At Brazil triumphed with the world title, some of its key players have elaborated on their earlier statements that they let Bulgaria win 3:0 against them in an earlier phase of the championship in order to avoid playing Cuba in the quarter-final.

Three of Brazil's leading players, captain Giba, center Rodrigao, and Amaral Dante have convinced the coach Bernardo Rezende that their time must lose from Bulgaria, according to Brazilian site terra.com.

"We knew what such a decision would mean but our end victory proved that we were right," Amaral Dante is quoted as saying.

"It was hard to think about how to lose a match but we had a goal and had to achieve it. After all, our efforts were worth it, and we became world champions," according to Brazil's Junior.

Brazil lost 0:3 to Bulgaria even though their major players were absent from the field.

After the game, the Brazilian players initially said they boycotted the format of the championship, with captain Giba criticizing the Bulgarians for the absence of two of their major players.

"We were unanimous that we should select the easier road to the final," Giba told Brazilian channel SportTV.

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