26/06/2015 18:05
The bald truth about Bulgaria’s semi-final haircut
2015 European Games
Baku, Azerbaijan, June 26, 2015. It was a transformed Bulgarian team that entered Crystal Hall today to face Poland in the men’s semi-final. Not only did Bulgaria play some of their best Volleyball in the tournament, most of the team had shaved off all their hair.
A new Bulgarian tradition has maybe seen its beginning at Crystal Hall today. A bald Bulgarian team won the semi-final against the strong – and up until today unbeaten – Polish side.
The decision to shave off the hair was made after Bulgaria qualified from the pool stage to the quarterfinals.
“We made the decision before the match against Turkey. We said to each other that if we qualified for the semi-final, we would go for it,” says Martin Bozhilov, libero of Bulgaria.
And so they did. Off came the hair, and it may not be the last time a Bulgarian team does that.
“We decided to make an experiment and do something extravagant. We are happy that it helped us. Maybe it will be a tradition from now on,” Bozhilov adds, clearly happy with the spot in the final of the Baku 2015 European Games.
Not the entire Bulgarian team was bald. Martin Bozhilov gives the explanation with a smile:
“Some of the guys will simply not look good at all without hair so they did not have to do it,” he says.
Bulgaria is not the only team to have done this action at the European Games. Finland, who did not qualify from the pool stage, has a 20-year long tradition in this field. When you make your international debut with the senior team, the hair must go, and so it happened to some of the Finns competing at the Baku 2015 European Games.
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