Bulgarian women’s national handball team dropped out of the World Cup qualifiers

The Bulgarian women’s national handball team failed to qualify for the second round of the 2023 World Cup qualifiers in Norway, Sweden, and Denmark after suffering a second defeat to Italy. The Bulgarian girls lost to Squadra Azura with 29-33 (13-18) in the second leg in Chieti and after losing 19-26 in the first match in Varna a few days ago, they dropped out of the qualifiers.

The Bulgarian women’s national handball team, which returned to the international stage after a 6-year hiatus, were equal until the middle of the first half, but with 5 goals in a row, the hosts from Italy pulled 12-7 in the 19th minute and kept their advantage at the break. A strong few minutes after the middle of the second half and four unanswered goals allowed the Bulgarians to reduce to 23-26 in the 49th minute, but until the end Italy did not allow the gap to be shortened any further.

The top scorer for Bulgaria was Mari Tomova with 9 goals, while Lidiya Kovacheva and Polina Gencheva added 6 goals each. Ramona Manojlovic scored 8 goals for Italy.