Undefeated gold for Cuban beach volleyball duo at Norceca phase in Varadero

 HAVANA, Cuba, May 5 (ACN) The Cuban duo of Noslen Diaz-Jorge Luis Alayo won the gold medal on Sunday in undefeated quality, in the men's tournament of the first phase of the North, Central America and Caribbean Circuit (Norceca) Beach Volleyball 2025, in Varadero.

According to the website www.norceca.net, the Paris 2024 Olympic and first couple of Cuba imposed their condition of favorites to win the title and defeated the Nicaraguans Mora and Lopez 2-0 in the final with easy partials of 21-10 and 21-12 in 32 minutes of action on the court of the Barcelo Solymar-Arenas Blancas hotel complex.
With this result, Francisco Alvarez Cutiño's disciples improved their performance achieved at the Varadero stop, where they finished with the silver medal, ahead of the United States teams.

Noslen and Alayo's performance was perfect, as they dominated Pool A with four victories without defeats, then won in the quarterfinals and semifinals, the latter against their teammates and second Cuban pair of Damian Gomez and Eblis Veranes, who until then had never lost.

Gomez and Veranes, who lost 0-2 (16-21 and 10-21) to Diaz and Alayo, won the bronze medal by beating Puerto Rico's Torres-Encarnacion 2-0 (21-10 and 21-13), and improved on the ninth place obtained on the same stage, but in 2024.

In the women's tournament, Cuba also won a bronze medal with the first duo (f) formed by Kailin Garrido and Maykelin Drik, after defeating the Mexicans Vidaurrazaga-Ramirez, 2-1 (21-18, 12-21 and 15-8), after winning Group A with three wins without setbacks, to which they added the quarterfinals, but lost in the semifinals.
Cuba, Nicaragua and Cuba shared the medals in the men's tournament, while the women's tournament was won by the United States, Mexico and Cuba.

The Varadero stage counted with the participation of 32 pairs from 14 countries, figures made official at the technical meeting on Thursday, with a program of 18 games in the men's and 12 in the women's.

The Norceca Circuit awarded points for the continental and world rankings, and will mark the beginning of the qualification process for the Central American and Caribbean Games of Santo Domingo 2026.