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GUADALAJARA, Mexico, April 10,
2010 – Cuba defeated Puerto Rico in consecutive
sets by score of 25-21, 25-16, 25-12 advancing
to the gold medal match of the NORCECA Boys’
Youth Continental Tournament where one ticket to
the Singapore Youth Olympic Games is at stake.
As one of the top two teams in
the competition, the win enables Cuba a berth in
the 2011 FIVB Boys’ Youth World Championship.
Led by the “Lion King”, the
nickname given by the local press to Wilfredo
Leon, the Cuban team displayed a powerful attack
while their efficient serve and strong blocking
contributed to secure the victory in the 1 hour
and 7 minutes that the match lasted.
The 16 years-old Leon, who is a
world vice-champion, contributed the most to the
final score with 14 points while Denny Hernandez
and Lazaro Fundora added 11 and 9 points
respectively. Ramon Burgos had 9 points for
Puerto Rico.
Rodolfo Sanchez, Technical
Director for Cuba, commented “we knew this would
be a tough game as we’re similar teams, but
every day we go out there to give it our best in
every game and once again, we fully delivered on
that tactical plan.”
Alexis Lamadrid, Captain for the
winning team, congratulated the rivals, adding
“they played us really well, but we followed our
directive very carefully.”
Leon also added a few
complimentary words for Puerto Rico and
indicated “the confrontation developed as we had
expected it to. The plan was achieved 100%; we
went out there to give it our all. It was a
great match.”
Ramon Lawrence, the Cuban-born
coach for PR, assured “Cuba did a great job;
they know how to control their game from
beginning to end. We made too many mistakes and
with the level of those rivals, you can’t afford
to fail.”
“That’s what made us lose,
regardless of the fact that we knew that it
would be a very tough match by the traditional
Cuban hierarchy, but now we go on to get ready.
This isn’t over yet; tomorrow, we’re going to
fight for the bronze medal.”
Ramon Burgos, PR Team Captain,
expressed “that was some game but our team was
very tense the whole time; we were nervous and
we couldn’t follow through on what our coaches
directed us to do.”
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 y Ramon Burgos (Pur).jpg)