The team played with great skill.  Photo: File/JIT

Havana, July 6 (RHC)-- Cuba concluded Thursday its performance in men's field hockey at the Central American and Caribbean Games with a well-deserved bronze medal against Barbados 4-2, in a match held at Parque del Este, in Santo Domingo, the capital of the Dominican Republic.

With a majority possession of the ball, the team won the third place metal with scores of 0-1, 0-0, 0-0, 1-2, 1-1 on the blue court of the field hockey field, where they remained undefeated during the tournament, until losing in the finals against Mexico in a very even match.

The national commissioner of this sport, Lázaro Lorenzo Oliva, told Prensa Latina that the team played excellently.

He explained that the boys won three consecutive victories and qualified first in the group; they scored more than 16 goals in that stage and in the semifinals they lost to Mexico 5-3, in a very close match.

In the case of the girls, Oliva considered that their performance was convincing. "During their first match they finished tied 2-2 with Mexico, and then beat the teams of Jamaica (6-0) and Trinidad and Tobago (4-1)," he said.

Oliva estimated that the final held the day before was a "heartbreaker", because with only three minutes left in the match, which had been 1-0 in favor of Cuba, the Mexicans tied and then won in a penalty shootout 3-2.

The expert was optimistic, and said that from now on they will continue training with a view to the Pan American Games to be held in Santiago de Chile next October.