Havana, November 13 (JIT) -- The Cuban team swept Costa Rica and took the bronze medal at the First Norceca U17 Men's Championship in Veracruz 2023, thus - in addition - winning the last quota granted there for the world championship of the category in 2024.

At the Miguel Hidalgo Gymnasium in the town of Poza Rica, the Antilleans won in straight sets of 25-11, 25-12 and 25-22, and concluded the event with a record of three wins and two losses. The Central Americans were 3-3.

Puerto Rico (5-0) and Mexico (5-1), precisely the only victims of the Cubans, disputed the title as owners of the other two tickets for next year's world championship. The victory went to the undefeated Puerto Ricans 3-1 (25-23, 24-26, 25-16, 25-20).

For their part, the team from the Greater Antilles showed superiority against the Ticos in attack (45-27), blocking (6-2) and direct service points (6-0), and gave away fewer points due to their own errors (13-18).

Corner player Yosdani Medina led the offense with 16 points, distributed in 13 attacks, one block and two serves, followed by middle blocker Julio Alberto Acosta (10) and by Byron Herrera (9), also an auxiliary attacker. For their opponents, center Julián Soto De Franco was the only player in double digits with 13 points.

Herrera, captain of the winners, declared that "Costa Rica played good volleyball and so did we. We achieved our goal of qualifying to the world championship. We wanted the gold medal, but we couldn't, it will be next time".

The leader of the opponents, Gabriel Cordoba, stated that "we gave our best in the tournament, we were never an easy opponent. This fourth place is historic for Costa Rica. We need to gain more experience to win a medal in the future.

Guatemala, Dominican Republic and Nicaragua shared the fifth through seventh places, in that order. They were followed by Honduras after their revenge success (25-20, 20-25, 25-23, 25-22) against Suriname, occupant of the basement.