Cuban men's beach duo Diaz-Alayo wins gold and world quota in Punta Cana

HAVANA, Cuba, Jun 9 (ACN) The Cuban duo Noslen Diaz-Jorge Luis Alayo won the gold medal and a place in the world championship by defeating Nicaragua's Ruben Mora-Dany Lopez 2-0 in the final of the North, Central America and Caribbean (NORCECA) Continental Beach Volleyball Tournament, held in Punta Cana, Dominican Republic.

According to the website www.norceca.net, Diaz and Alayo defeated Mora and Lopez with scores of 21-12 and 21-10.

The Cubans advanced on Thursday to the discussion of the title with a 2-1 victory (21-15, 16-21 and 15-10) over the US Virgin Islands duo Bucklin-Cronshaw in the quarterfinals, and a 2-0 (21-15 and 21-13) victory over Canada's Shachter-Dearing in the semifinals, in 53 and 39 minutes of play, respectively.

The bronze medal went to the Canadian duo of Shachter and Dearing, in this case due to the no-show of the U.S. pair Benesh-Partain, who won the other two tickets to the World Championship in Tlexcala, Mexico, in October 2023.

However, in the women's tournament, the Cuban duo Amanda Armenteros-Yenifer Rivera failed to qualify for the world event, finishing in fifth place.

The champions and qualifiers were the Puerto Ricans Navas-Gonzalez, who defeated the Americans Kolinske-Harward 2-1 (8-21, 21-17 and 15-11) in the final, while the bronze medal went to the Canadians Marcelle-Bukovec, who defeated the Dominicans Almanzar-Payano 2-0 (21-19 and 21-11).