Havana, October 3 (ACN) -- The Cuban men's volleyball team will face the Czech Republic today in the continuation of the action in group A of the pre-Olympic tournament in Rio de Janeiro, with stage until next Sunday at the Maracanazinho in that Brazilian city.
After defeating Ukraine 3-0 (25-16, 25-19 and 25-18), falling 1-3 (25-21, 14-25, 22-25 and 15-25) against Germany and completing the first rest day, the disciples of coach Jesús Cruz will try to get their second victory in the event against the Czechs.
Most specialists give the Cubans as favorites to overcome the Czech Republic, although others remember that this team lost, but by 1-3 and 2-3 against Italy and Brazil, in that order.
The Italians, the Germans and the South American Giants lead the standings in section A with six points, two wins and no defeats, followed by Cuba (4/1-1), Ukraine (3/1-1), Czech Republic (3/0-2), Iran (0/0-2) and Qatar (0/-0-2).
According to the tournament schedule, the matches of the A key between the Iranians and Qataris, the Italians and Ukrainians, and the Brazilians and Germans will also continue on Tuesday.
In the pre-Olympic are the best 24 teams of the RM that still do not have the Olympic ticket, and in Tokyo, Japan, the local team, the United States, Slovenia, Serbia, Turkey, Tunisia, Egypt and Finland are playing in the B bracket.
Xian, China, hosts segment C with the host team, Poland, Argentina, Netherlands, Canada, Mexico, Belgium and Bulgaria.
Closing on Sunday, the United States and Slovenia (6/2-0) lead Group B, ahead of Serbia, Japan and Turkey (3/1-1), Egypt (2/1-1), Finland (1/-0-2) and Tunisia (0/0-2).
Poland and Canada (5/2-0) lead section C, followed by the Netherlands and Belgium (4/1-1), Argentina and Bulgaria (3/1-1), and China and Mexico (0/0-2).
The top two teams in each group will qualify for the Paris 2024 multisport event, for which France has already secured its place as the host country.
The International Federation's website www.fivb.com also highlights that the remaining five spots per gender will be filled by selecting the top five teams not yet qualified in the MR at the end of the preliminary phase of the Volleyball Nations League 2024.
