Cuban beach volleyball couple wins stage of NORCECA Circuit

HAVANA, Cuba, Apr 4 (acn) Cubans Nivaldo Diaz and Sergio Gonzalez reached the gold medal of the second phase of the North, Central American and Caribbean (NORCECA) Beach Volleyball Circuit based in Mexico when defeating Americans Stafford Slick and William Allen.

According to the website of NORCECA, the duo Diaz-Gonzalez won 2-1 (21-17, 19-21 and 15-10) in 49 minutes a game with a stage at San Francisco resort, in Guaymas, state of Sonora.
Cubans reached the final by beating 2-1 (22-24, 21-18 and 15-8) in semifinals the hosts José Luis Rubio and Josue Gaxiola.
Meanwhile, Americans defeated 2-1 (19-21, 21-18 and 15-11) the also US pair made up by brothers Taylor and Trevor Crabb.
Diaz and Gonzalez concluded as leaders of Group A with four wins, two in the preliminary stage over the main pair of Canada, 2-0 (21-11 and 21-10) and versus the second duo of Mexico, 2-0 (21-13 and 21-11), and another one in quarter-finals against the duet of Costa Rica, 2-0 (21-13 and 21-12).
This performance is a good sign for the Olympic qualifying tournament to be held next June in the same venue, where they will look for the ticket to the Games next August in Rio de Janeiro.
In the match for the bronze medal, the Crabb brothers beat 2-0 (24-22 and 21-16) Mexicans Rubio and Gaxiola.
The winners of the tournament, which brought together 15 pairs, earned 280 points for the ranking of NORCECA, while the second, third and fourth seats won 252, 244 and 196 units respectively.
Canada (168), Guatemala (168), Dominican Republic (168), Costa Rica (168), Trinidad and Tobago (140), US Virgin Islands (140), Santa Lucia (140), Mexico (140), Belize (140), Honduras (140) and Jamaica (140) finished from fifth to fifteenth spots in that order.
The other stop for Cubans, bronze medalists at the 2015 Pan American Games in Toronto, will be next weekend also in Mexico,in La Paz, Baja California.
The NORCECA circuit includes so far 17 phases and grants points for the qualifying ranking for Rio de Janeiro.