The captain of the Bulgarian national volleyball team at the Beijing Olympics, Plamen Konstantinov, returned to Bulgaria over fears that an eventual doping test on him could test positive, the President of the Volleyball Federation of Bulgaria, Dancho Lazarov, revealed.

Konstantinov mysteriously left for Sofia on Sunday without taking part in the game against China, in which Bulgaria won 3-1. It was then reported that the captain had left the Olympics due to "health reasons."

"We found out that Konstantinov's doping test was positive when we were at our training camp in Korea before the Games. There were suspicions and new tests were made but we received the results when we were already in Beijing. As the tests were positive again, it was decided that Konstantinov should not take part in the game against China, in order not to jeopardize the participation of the whole team," Lazarov said.

"Plamen himself wanted to get a re-test and that is why he left for Bulgaria. If the next results are negative he may return to Beijing," Lazarov added. He did not say what the banned substance found in Konstantinov's blood was.