Bulgaria defeated Spain 3–2 in the two nations’ final tie at this year’s Uber Cup, closing their campaign with a victory.

Despite the win, Bulgaria, who made history in February by winning the European Women’s Team Championships for the first time, were unable to progress to the knockout stage. They finish third in the group, while Spain end their campaign in fourth place.

Earlier in the tournament, Bulgaria delivered a strong performance against Thailand in a closely contested tie. One of the standout moments came from young star Kaloyana Nalbantova, who defeated former world champion Ratchanok Intanon. The team’s leading pair, the Stoeva sisters, also secured a doubles victory, but Bulgaria ultimately fell just short of the additional win needed to advance from the group.

Despite the group stage exit, the experience has been a positive one for the team, according to the Stoeva sisters.

“It has been amazing, it is completely different from the individual tournaments, different atmosphere. Everything is different, because in an individual tournament you know that you only have to rely on yourself, but here you have teammates who can support you and play the other matches. It is nice, we like to play team events.”

Although the results did not match their success at the European Women’s Team Championships, the sisters emphasised the importance of contributing to the development of a young Bulgarian squad.

“It is nice to see the young players come in to play this Uber Cup for experience. We can see that there is quite a good generation after us, and we hope that we can see some big names on the world tour after us, so that is really nice.”

The Stoeva sisters will now take a short break from competition to focus on training ahead of the Asian leg of the World Tour at the end of May and beginning of June, where they are set to compete at the Singapore Open and Indonesia Open.

Their main target for the remainder of the season will be the World Championships in August, which will be held in New Delhi.