Havana, October 8 (ACN)-- Cuba's men's volleyball team defeated Italy 3-1 on Saturday and kept alive their chances of a place in Group A of the pre-Olympic tournament in Rio de Janeiro, a key that distributes two of the six tickets for the multi-sport event in Paris 2024.

Although Sunday's game is still pending, in which they have to defeat Iran, and wait for the results of today and tomorrow of the other four teams in section A, what is certain is that today they did what they had to do, win.

According to the International Federation website www.fivb.com, the disciples of Jesus Cruz secured the first set, 25-22, fell in the second, 21-25, and secured the final victory in two prolonged sets, 27-25 and 29-27.

The official statistics of the match reflect the tightness of the challenge, as the Cubans were better in blocking, 12 points to nine, and gave up six points less due to their own errors (28-34), while Fernando De Giorgi's pupils were ahead in attack (60-55) and service (2-1).

Individually, Miguel Angel Lopez was the top scorer of the match with 23 points, 22 in attack and one in blocking, supported by Marlon Yant (17/13-3-1) and Miguel David Gutierrez (11/8-3-0).

The other three players with double digits were Italy's Daniele Lavia (19/19-0-0-0), Alessandro Michieletto (14/12-2-0) and Simone Giannelli (11/9-2-0).

With this result, Cuba remains so far in fourth place in the standings, with 12 points, four wins and two losses, while Italy dropped to third place (12/4-2) with similar numbers as Cruz's team.

The Brazilians also won their challenge today, beating Iran 3-0 (25-19, 25-20 and 25-23), the opponent of the largest of the Antilles in tomorrow's match, which closes Group A of the tournament.

The matches Ukraine (7/2-3)-Czech Republic (4/1-4) and the undefeated and leader Germany (15/5-0)-Qatar (0/0-5), scheduled to take place in the afternoon and evening, are still to be played.