Havana, February 19 (JIT) - The Cuban women suffered their second setback at the Busan 2024 World Table Tennis Team Championships in South Korea against Italy, but improved on their opening performance.

The final score was again 3-0, but the West Indies managed a set in each duel and the close scores in the rest of the matches showed intense battles on the table.

Estela Crespo, Daniela Fonseca and Rosalba Aguiar are facing their first match at this level. They made their debut with a defeat against Malaysia and now have to face the host team and Puerto Rico.

In the match against the Italians, Estela lost to Girogia Piccolin with close scores of 8-11, 5-11, 12-10 and 12-14. A few moments later, Daniela lost to Nikoleta Stefanova (11-8, 11-6, 11-3, 11-6) and Rosalba to Gaia Monfard (5-11, 9-11, 11-8, 11-6).

"The level here is high because of the presence of players who play in the strongest leagues in the world. In addition, the countries came with everything, because the best eight will qualify for the Paris 2024 Olympic Games," the president of the Cuban federation of the sport, Bárbaro Oliva, told JIT.

"The scores of the matches show that our boys have offered resistance. They have logical defensive lapses, but they have played well at this level," he added, before assessing their attendance at the tournament as very beneficial.

"We took the opportunity to see the competition models and we trained with players from other countries with recognised prestige," added Oliva.

Among the men, the team formed by Jorge Moises Campos, Andy Pereira, Adrian Pereira, Adrian Perez and Liván Martinez lost in their crossings with Hungary and China, the best team in the world.

"After that match they were congratulated by many of those who saw them play, because they "battled", as we say," he said.He also praised the performance of Jorge Moises in his match against Jingkun Liang, ranked number four in the world.The men's squad has pending matches against Croatia and Belgium, which complete the section one entry.

Cuba's Daniela and Moises have secured their presence in table tennis in Paris 2024, thanks to their victory in the mixed doubles at the XIX Pan American Games in Santiago 2023.