Cuba finished second in Volleyball Men´s Challenger Cup

HAVANA, Cuba, Jul 8 (acn) Cuba was the runner-up of the 2nd edition of the 2019 FIVB Volleyball Men´s Challenger Cup, running until last Sunday in the Slovak city of Ljubljana, when losing in the final to the host team.

In a match of undefeated squads, Slovenia beat 3-0 (26-24, 25-21 and 25-21) Cuba, performance that earned them the only ticket the tournament granted to the 2020 Nations League.
Klemen Ceulj, top scorer of the game with 18 points, was key in the success of the locals, and was supported by Toncek Stern (14) and Tine Urnant (12), while Marlon Yang (11) stood out for the losing side.
In the preliminary round, Cuba topped Pool B with 3-1 and 3-2 wins over Belarus and Egypt, in that order, to then defeated Turkey 3-2 in semi-finals.
Belarusians won the bronze medal by beating Turks 3-1 (25-20, 25-20, 16-25 and 25-20), while Egypt and Chile finished 5th and 6th respectively.
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.