Cuban volleyball players to the Pan American Junior Games Cali-2021

Havana, July 7 (RHC)-- Cuba will seek a quota for the men's volleyball tournament at the Cali 2021 Pan American Junior Games, out of the four to be awarded by the Norceca U23 Pan American Cup, scheduled for July 11-16 in Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic.

The team was able to be regrouped, despite the difficulties of COVID-19, and has been training since Saturday at the National Volleyball School, led by the young coach Jesus Cruz, assisted by Angel Gonzalez.

The team is headed by Marlon Yant from Villaclare, a lanky 2.02-meter tall 20-year-old who has accumulated experience with the senior national team and with the Chaumont, France, and Lube Civitanova, Italy, clubs.

Another auxiliary attacker from that central province, José Miguel Gutiérrez, who played the 2021 season with the French Poitiers, also appears on the roster.

The opposites are Havana's Alexei Ramirez, a 2019 participant in the U19 World Championship, and Santiago's Tomas Alejandro Lescay, who played this 2021 season with a Tunisian club backed by the Cuban Volleyball Federation.

Leading the central defenders are Luis Vidal from Havana, who participated in the Turkish league this year, and Ángel Suárez from Santiago, a new ENV graduate, who is less than 19 years old but has a height of 2.12 meters.

The starting passer is Julio Alberto Gómez (22), who will make his international debut in the 2021-2022 season for a club in Hungary.  "The other players are members of the U19 pre-selection who are going to their first experience and will prepare for the World Cup at that age under the guidance of coach Mario Raul Izquierdo," Jesus Cruz, also in charge of the U21 squad, a good part of the under-23 team, told JIT.

He pointed out that Vidal is a central defender who contributed a lot in the U19 World Cup, and that "Marlon is a strength, he can be the inspirational spark plug for the rest of the team".

"The main objective is to qualify for the Cali Games. Then we will fight to win the tournament, the boys are aware that despite the problems of the pandemic we have to achieve that goal and show an excellent disposition", he said.

Completing the group that leaves next Saturday are physician Ramses Raymond, international referee Jose Pardo Peña, from Ciego de Avila, and methodologist Sergio Iglesias as head of the delegation.

According to the official website of the event, the general technical meeting will be held on the 11th and the competitive days from the 12th to the 16th.

The regulations of the Norceca event indicate that the first seven teams to confirm their participation will be the hosts together with the hosts.