The Cuban beach volleyball pair made up of Noslen Díaz and Jorge Luis Alayo has just qualified for this year's Paris Olympic Games.
According to Facebook user CubanSp1ke, Cubans secured the coveted ticket on Tuesday, before the start of the Ostrava Elite 16 in the Czech Republic.
The pair was waiting for the results of the elite phase of the tournament, the last qualifying tournament in the ranking, which they did not attend. Surprisingly, "the qualification stage placed the Austrians and Chileans in a hypothetical second round if they manage to pass the first; this means that one of the two would not qualify for the main draw."
With this, Alayo, Díaz, and their coach Francis Alvarez Cutiño can now continue the celebration that began with the performance obtained in Poland a few days ago," he emphasized.
The Cubans were in the qualifying zone according to the provisional Olympic ranking, after winning the silver medal on Sunday at the Stare Jablonki Challenge in Poland, part of the 2024 Beach Volleyball World Tour.
"This beach volleyball couple has restored faith in a sport that is difficult to practice in Cuba, and one that cannot be sustained on the island due to its characteristics. We will always remember the year 2024 as the one in which they rose to the elite. Today, apart from qualifying for the Paris Olympics, they are also the 10th-ranked couple in the world, a feat achieved previously only by their own coach Francisco Álvarez Cutiño and Juan Rossell over 20 years ago," expressed Roney CubanSp1ke in the post.
In Sunday's game in Poland, the Cubans were defeated by the Czechs Ondrej Perusic and David Schweiner in the tie-break. It was the only game the Cubans lost throughout the entire event.
"We are very happy because we have exceeded expectations by reaching a podium at the World Pro Tour for the fourth time this season, playing against pairs of the highest level. We have high hopes of giving our people great joy, having Cuba be present in the French capital," Álvarez Cutiño declared to the Cuban magazine JIT when the qualification was not yet certain.
What do you think?
COMMENTFiled under: