Noslen and Alayo

Havana, Sept 11 (JIT) - Cubans Noslen Diaz and Jorge Luis Alayo came out on top in their first two challenges and advanced to the semifinals of the Russian Beach Volleyball Super Cup 2024 held in the federal territory of Sirius, in the resort of Sochi.

In their debut they won 2-0 (21-19, 21-16) against one of the main duos of the circuit, integrated by Dmitry Veretyuk and Alexey Arkhipov (Obninsk Club), but they have not been able to beat the Antilleans in their tour of that nation.

The other victory required a greater effort to overcome Fedor Sabaev and Alexander Kramarenko (New Urengoy) in three sets (21-19, 16-21, 15-11), according to information from colleague Roberto García del Corral, from Cubavisión Internacional.  

Francisco Alvarez Cutiño's students will return to the arena next Friday to face the winners of the quarterfinal clash between favorites Oleg Stoyanovsky-Ilya Leshukov and Sabaev-Kramarenko.

Stoyanovsky and Leshukov defeated Diaz and Alayo at the Russian National Championship 2024 during the semifinal match, which they dominated 2-1 (20-22, 21-8, 15-11). 

Stoyanovsky emerged world monarch in 2019 and Olympic runner-up in Tokyo 2020. Leshukov was European runner-up in 2019 and has been a medalist between 2018 and 2019 on the universal circuit. 

In the women's Russian Super Cup women's event, Cubans Maykelin Drik and Yenifer Rivera lost in two sets (9-21, 10-21) to Maria Bocharova and Maria Egorova (Kaliningrad) at the start of the key preliminary.

This Thursday, the players coached by Alain Hernandez will finish this phase against Elizaveta Gubina and Kristina Shchegoleva (Dynamo Moscow), looking for a win that will allow them to advance to the knockout round.

The tournament brings together the seven best pairs in both genders of the Eurasian nation, which means a valuable experience for the Island's teams in the opening of their 2024-2025 season.