Cuban beach volleyball duo Diaz-Alayo wins historic bronze at Elite 16 Tepic tournament

HAVANA, Cuba, Apr 22 (ACN) The Cuban duo of Noslen Diaz and Jorge Luis Alayo won a historic bronze medal at the Elite 16 tournament of the World Pro Tour, defeating today 2-0 the German duo Ehlier-Wicker in the edition of Tepic, Mexico, a performance with which they added their third medal on the road to Paris 2024.

In addition to the silver medals won recently in the Chellenger competitions in Recife and Saquerama, and the fourth place in Guadalajara, Cubans now added a thousand points for the world ranking (WR) that defines the Olympic list for Paris 2024.

It should be noted that with this figure, Francisco Alvarez Cutiño's disciples are only 100 points away from the 17th place required to enter the list for the Olympic Games.

On Sunday, at the Nayarit Arena, Diaz and Alayo overcame the Germans with scores of 21-18 and 21-17, in a match that had Ehlers as the top scorer, with 23 points, 21 in attack and two in service, followed by Alayo (21/15-6-0), Diaz (12/12-0-0) and Wickler (8/7-0-1), in that order.

The collective statistics highlight Caribbean island athletes were better in blocking, six points to zero, and surrendered fewer points due to their own errors (4-9), while Germany was ahead in serving (3-0) and attacking (28-27).

Cuban duo finished third in Group D of the main draw, with a 2-0 victory over the Mexican duo Miguel Sarabia-Gabriel Cruz, 2-0, and setbacks against the Germans, 0-2, and the Americans Partain-Benesh, 0-2.

WR will close on June 9 and will distribute 17 Olympic spots for the best-placed pairs with the requirement of having at least 12 of the qualifying events, but discounting the world champions, one from France -because of its host country status- and those of the countries that repeat two other countries with privileged positions in the WR.

Diaz and Alayo are doing well in the world and Olympic provisional lists, and they also have the possibility of getting the ticket for Paris in the North, Central America and the Caribbean (Norceca) pre-Olympic, event that will take place June 19-24 in the Mexican city of Tlaxcala, where they would have to climb to the top of the podium to achieve it.