Theodoros Baev

Theodoros Baev (May 31, 1977 in Nova Zagora, Bulgaria) is a Greek volleyball player, currently playing for Panathinaikos of Athens.^[1]

From the beginning of his career in Greek championship as a player of Ethnikos Alexandroupolis (1994–1995), Todor Baev was the focal point of federal coaches' interest.

He first joined the juniors' National Team in 1994 and took 5th place at the European Championship in Turkey. A turning point in his career was the juniors' World Championship of Malaysia in 1995, where the National Team won 5th place and Baev was declared the best attacker of the event.

Before entering the men's National Team he experienced two more great successes. In 1996 at the European Championship in Israel and in 1997 at the World Championship in Bahrain, Baev led the juniors' National Team both times to 5th place.

His first formal match as a player of the men's National Team was in 1995 at the European Championship in Athens where he played as a substitute in the game against Latvia (Greece won 3-0 sets). He gained his first points (2 points + 3 side outs) in the match against Poland where Greece was defeated 3-0 sets. He has 93 international participations to his credit (until 2002), while one of his greatest achievements as a player of the National Team was the 7th place finish at the World Championship in Argentina in 2002. Generally, Argentina is Baev's lucky charm since he showed great performances there; in the World League (1998) the Greek men's National Team achieved two wins 3-2 and 3-1 sets at Santa Fe and Rosario respectively in the presence of 8000 Argentines.

As an international player he has participated once in the World Championship (2002-Argentina: 7th place), once in the European Championship (1995-Athens: 7th place) and three times in the World Leagues (1998: 12th place, 2001: 9th, 2002: 9th).

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