The Bulgarian Basketball Federation are set to host the European Championship Division C for Men at the Triaditsa Sports Hall in the capital of Sofia this week.
The championship will be the first time that Bulgaria has competed at a major international tournament in wheelchair basketball.
Bulgarian coach, Vladimir Iskrov, admitted that this participation was a dream come true:
"It really is happening very quickly. The idea of a national team was born two years ago, and now we are going to participate in the European Championship, which is great, we have no expectations, but we want to play well.”
Taking place over five days, the hosts will face six other countries - Serbia, Greece, the Czech Republic, Hungary, Ireland, and Portugal - in a bid to secure the Division C title.
Bulgaria will open the tournament against Hungary on Tuesday (30th July) at 18.00 (local time) followed by the Czech Republic and Portugal, who were drawn alongside them in pool A in the preliminary stages. Pool B consists of the three remaining teams - Serbia, Greece and Ireland.
Following the round robin stage, the top two in each pool will move forward to the semi-finals on Friday (2nd August), with the final and the 3rd/4th placed game being played on Saturday (3rd August).
To determine positions 5-7, the team ranked third in pool A receives a bye through to the 5th/6th placing game. They will meet the winner of the crossover game between the fourth ranked team in pool A and the third ranked team in pool B.
The top two teams will be promoted to the European Championship Division B for Men scheduled to take place next year.
Follow the European Championship Division C live via the Bulgarian Basketball Federation's YouTube Account or via FIBA Live Stats.
Click here for Schedule, Results and Statistics.
Full team rosters can be found here.
IWBF Europe's Competition Website for the 2019 European Championship Division C
Image and text courtesy of the Bulgarian Basketball Federation.
