Cuban beach volleyball duos lose medal chances at Asunción 2025

HAVANA, Cuba, Aug 21 (ACN) Cuban beach volleyball pairs of Damian Gomez-Eblis Veranes and Kailin de la C. Garrido-Maikelin Drik lost all chance of medal contention on Wednesday after losing in their respective quarterfinal matches during the continuation of the sport's event at the 2ndJunior Pan American Games in Asuncion, Paraguay.

In a match played on the sands of Luque, a city located 18 kilometers from the Paraguayan capital, Gomez and Veranes lost to Venezuelans Juliangel Vargas and Enyenser Delgado 1-2 (21-19, 21-23, 13-15), after moving within one point of a definitive victory in the second set, when they were leading 21-20.

Vargas, for Venezuela, and Gomez, for Cuba, excelled individually, scoring a whopping 26 and 24 points, respectively.

The former excelled in blocking (5) and the latter in net and serving (three per capita). Garrido and Drik, meanwhile, were outclassed by the better performance of Americans Portia Sherman and Emma Donley, who relied on effective attacking and net work to finish the match in just under 45 minutes.

After these losses, the island's men's and women's duos will play starting this Thursday for fifth to eighth place.

The men will face Uruguayans Mikhail Cuadrado and Roberto Fernandez, while the women will face Brazilians Carolina Salaberry and Julia Vieira.

The beach volleyball competition includes an additional incentive: it awards direct qualification tickets to the Lima 2027 Pan American Games to the highest-ranked team from the South American Volleyball Confederation and the highest-ranked team from the North, Central America and Caribbean Confederation, both men and women.