Cuba is ready for greater endeavors and will surely prove it in the Nations League.
Photo taken from Cubadebate

Havana, July 31 (RHC)-- Cuba's men's team qualified this Sunday for the 2023 Nations Volleyball League by defeating Turkey 3-1 in the final of the Challenger Cup, held in Seoul, South Korea.

The scores of the match were 25-17, 23-25, 25-20 and 25-20, scores that show the strength of the Cubans against a top level opponent, who could not overcome the effectiveness of the attack, led by Miguel Angel Lopez, who accumulated 20 points, and Jesus Herrera (19).

Lopez's work was distributed in 16 in attack, two in blocking and two in service, an excellent performance, as well as that of Herrera (16-2-1).

Also outstanding with double digits for Cuba were Roamy Alonso (12/10-1-1) and Osniel Mergarejo (11/6-1-4).

Only in the first set did the disciples of Nicolas Vives impose their power, as they started ahead and won easily, but in the remaining three sets both teams "battled" on the court.

Cuba is ready for bigger challenges and will surely prove it in the League of Nations, former World League, and will continue on its way to qualify for the Paris 2024 Olympic Games, passing through the Central American and Caribbean Games in San Salvador and the Pan American Games in Santiago de Chile, both in 2023.

According to the site of the International Federation www.fivb.com, the largest island of the Antilles was better in attack (56-43), blocking (9-8) and service (8-6), while in errors that bring points of the rivals were equal (25-25).

For Turkey, Aris Lagumdzija (22/21-0-1) and Samet Gunes (10/4-4-0) stood out with double digits.

Before reaching the final, the Cubans defeated Chile (25-20, 25-19 and 25-19) and Czech Republic (25-22, 25-18 and 25-18) 3-0.

South Korea finished in third place in the tournament, beating the Czechs 3-2 (25-19, 25-16, 24-26, 23-25 and 22-20).