Cuba vs Netherlands

Havana, June 7 (ACN).- The Cuban men's volleyball team faces the Italian team this Friday in the continuation of the second week of the Volleyball Nations League (VNL), in Ottawa, Canada, a tournament that distributes points for the world ranking (RM) and for the Olympic ranking (RO) of Paris 2024.

The result this Friday against the 2022 world champion will be important, since at the moment the disciples of Jesús Cruz are outside the qualification zone for the Paris 2024 Games, after losing 1-3 to the Netherlands on Thursday.

Without their main leader on the court, Robertlandy Simón, suffering from back ailments, auxiliary attacker Marlon Yant led the Antilleans with 16 points.

Abdel-Aziz Nimir shone for the Netherlands, scoring no less than 38 points, 30 on offense and 5 on serve.

That setback was added to the one suffered on Tuesday against Canada, 1-3, after an outstanding performance in the first and based in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.

In this way, they lost a total of 9.66 points in the Olympic ranking and fell to 11th place, 5 points behind Serbia (ninth).

Serbia clashes this Friday against the United States.

After colliding with Italy, France, Tokyo 2020 Olympic title holder, will be the Caribbean's next opponent on Saturday.

The third week for the Cubans will be in Ljubliana, Slovenia, where they will face the local team, Bulgaria, Serbia and Poland.

The VNL program indicates that the quarterfinals will be from June 27 to 28, the semifinal, on the 29th, and the final, on the 30th, in Lodz, Poland.

The Tokyo 2020 Olympic champion, France, as host, as well as Germany, Brazil, Japan, the United States, Poland and Canada, which achieved them in last year's Pre-Olympic Games, already have their Olympic places secured.

In the remaining most recent matches, Argentina beat Canada 3-1, Slovenia beat Brazil 3-2, Bulgaria beat Iran 3-2, and Poland beat Japan 3-0.

The standings are led by Poland with 6-0 (18 points), followed by Slovenia (6-0, 15), and Italy 5-1 (15).

Cuba appears in the eighth place 3-3, with 10 units.