Cuban men's volleyball faces a strong challenge towards Paris 2024

HAVANA, Cuba, Jan 8 (ACN) Cuba's men's volleyball will have a first strong commitment this year on its road to the Paris 2024 Olympic Games, when it participates in the first of the three weeks of the Nations League, May 21-26.

Ariel Sainz, vice president of the National Institute of Sports, Physical Education and Recreation and head of the Cuban Federation, recently explained that the options of the men's team to qualify for the Paris multi-sport event have been carefully studied.

In this regard, he said that the players in foreign clubs, including Roberlandy Simón, are being followed up and the importance of getting them in the best physical and mental shape to make the transition to the first two weeks of the League, which are decisive for our chances.

Sainz, who also referred to the rising development of young players who already stand out in major international leagues, is hopeful of qualifying with this group that has grown into adulthood in their sporting development.

The Cuban team will compete in the key that will host Rio de Janeiro, along with Italy, world champion, Argentina, Olympic bronze medalist in Tokyo 2020, Serbia, Iran, Japan, Germany and Brazil.

Cubans will be in the second round with Serbia, Italy, Argentina, the United States, the Netherlands, France and the locals, while in the closing round, the venues will be Manila, Philippines, and Ljubljana, Slovenia.

Of those 16 teams, Germany, Brazil, the United States, Japan, Poland, Canada, Germany and the United States have already secured tickets to Paris, with France joining them as hosts.

The last five Olympic quotas in men's volleyball will be awarded in June 2024, according to the FIVB world ranking, with the places going to the top-ranked teams following this order of priority: teams from continents without Olympic-quota teams and the best-ranked ones without an Olympic quota.