"I can't believe it. Thank you everyone. We are very happy! We will try to turn the medal into gold. This match was very good. We had to stay focused after the match with the USA. That's what we did today. Thank you very much to everyone. We are returning as medalists. Tomorrow we are going out to paint the medal in gold," said Alexander Nikolov.

• Bulgaria reach World Championship semi-finals with win over USA

"The special thing about our team is that we are very young. We are all the same age and we are really good friends off the field. I have known half of the team for over ten years. You always know that you can trust these people more than just only teammates. Playing with your brother is not only a pride, but also a responsibility. This is something we knew would happen one day because we planned it from a very young age. We wanted it to happen and now we feel great," commented earlier the top scorer of the championship, Alexander Nikolov, for whom this is his second appearance at the World Cup. 

At the final tomorrow, the Bulgarian team will face the current world champions Italy who will defend their title after defeating Poland 3-0 (25-21, 25-22, 25-23) in the second semi-final of the World Cup in the Philippines.

Edited by Rostisa Petkova