Cuba will play Belarus in Volleyball Men´s Challenger Cup

HAVANA, Cuba, Jul 4 (acn) Cuba will debut today against Belarus, in the continuation of the 2nd edition of the 2019 FIVB Volleyball Men´s Challenger Cup, running until next Sunday in the Slovak city of Ljubljana and the participation of six countries.

According to the website of the contest, Cubans, who appear 18th in the world ranking, will face Belarusians (48) today in match of Pool B and tomorrow they will clash with Egyptians (13), in the closing day of the preliminary round.
Pool A includes Slovenia (host), Turkey (33) and Chile (37).
In the first day of actions, Slovenians beat 3-0 (25-15, 25-15 and 25-19) Chile, while Belarusians defeated 3-2 (25-21, 16-25, 25-20, 24-26 and 15-9) Egypt.
The Cuban squad is made up by the same players who recently won the Pan American Cup in Colima, Mexico, led by opposite hitter Miguel Angel Lopez, MVP of that contest.
Other outstanding players of the roster are the wing spikers Jesus Herrera, Osniel Melgarejo and Marlon Yang; centers Roamy Alonso, second best blocker of the Mexican continental tournament, and Livan Osoria; and setter Adrian Goide.
The winners of each Pool will advance directly to semifinals on Saturday 6, waiting for their opponents and looking for berths to the final of Sunday 7, which will grant a solo ticket to the 2020 Nations League.
In the first edition of the FIVB Volleyball Men´s Challenger Cup, based in Matosinhos, Portugal, in 2018, Cuba finished fourth, losing 0-3 in the bronze medal match to Estonia.
The gold and silver medals were for Portugal and the Czech Republic, respectively, while Kazakhstan and Chile ranked fifth and sixth, in that order.