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After achieving 17th place in the world event, this ninth place is the best performance of Díaz and Alayo in World Tour tournaments.
Photo: FIVB.
The best Cuban beach volleyball couple of the moment, the youngsters Noslen Díaz and Jorge Luis Alayo, lost in the round of 16 of the
Beach Pro Tour Challenge
that hosts the Mexican city of La Paz and ultimately finished in ninth place in the tournament.
This performance
represents the most outstanding performance of the West Indians in top-level international tournaments.
Multi-medalists in circuits in North, Central America and the Caribbean (NORCECA), located in 17th place in the 2022 World Championship and
ranked 57th in the global ranking
, the Creoles fell this Saturday against the Spaniards Herrera and Gavira, 14th in the world and fifth Europeans in the past campaign.
In that duel, the Cubans —aged 20 and 21—
came out without complexes against rivals who surpassed them in experience and got involved in a first set that was extended to an incredible score of 32-30 in favor of the Iberians.
After that demonstration of parity, the Spanish imposed their game in the second set and ultimately dominated it with a score of 21-16 to win and advance to the quarterfinals.
In the
match
, the six goals in blocking and the four in service for the Europeans
were key
, since in attack they barely got one point more than what was achieved by the Cubans.
Even in unforced errors the Caribbean recorded better dividends.
After this defeat,
Cuba finished in ninth place in a tournament that also represents its debut in this type of competition on the World Tour.
In turn, it is the second event in which they compete against rivals that do not belong to the NORCECA area.
In La Paz Díaz and Alayo finished with a balance of three wins and two losses,
an excellent performance if one takes into account that almost all the pairs they faced surpass them in the world ranking
and that they even had to face a previous round of sudden death to be included. in the main draw of the competition.
This will also happen to them on April 6 in the sands of the Brazilian beach of Ipanema, since
their location on the world list does not allow them to start the competition between the seeded couples for the group stage.
See also:
Beach Volleyball: Díaz and Alayo reach the round of 16 at the Beach World Pro Challenge in La Paz