Costa Rica and Nicaragua aiming for the golden ticket

MANAGUA, Nicaragua, December 7, 2017. - Richard Smith and Sebastian Valenciano from Costa Rica will face Ruben Mora and Danny Lopez from Nicaragua in the men’s second semifinal, aiming to reach the gold medal match against Andy Leonardo and Luis Garcia of Guatemala at the Beach Volleyball tournament of the 2017 Managua Central American Games.

Richard and Sebastian showed a calm performance in their route to reach the semifinal and without setback they defeated panama’s Davis Montero and Elmar Valdez 2-0 (21-14, 21-15) in their quarterfinal match.

Sebastian Valenciano said “I know we haven’t played at our best with Richard but we had little preparation together. I am lucky to be here because Bryan Monge was injured. We beat Nicaragua in the preliminary round and we hope to do the same to reach the gold medal match”.

Hosts Ruben and Danny were cleverer than Luis Luna and Gabriel Nuñez of Belize, easily prevailing 21-9, 21-5 in quarterfinals. Danny’s soft touches and Ruben’s blocking were impossible to overcome by the Belizean duo.

“First we must think about the semifinal, which we need to play more focused, fighting every point and try to limit our errors, to defeat Costa Rica. Our dream is to be in the gold medal match” said Danny Lopez.

Guatemala’s Andy Leonardo and Luis Garcia won their ticket to the title match beating Carlos “Tato” Escobar and David “Pepe” Vargas from El Salvador 2-0 (21-13, 21-15) in the men’s first semifinal.

This was a repeat of the semifinal in the past edition of the Games in 2013, where Tato and Pepe advanced into the gold medal match. This time, Andy and Luis were more effective in every aspect of the game.

According to Andy, it was nice experiencing the same semifinal than the past edition “four years ago it was our first major tournament with Luis and since then we have traveled a long road together; we have improved beyond our expectations and even competed at the World Championship. I hope that we can take the gold back home; it would be the best ending for this 2017”.

Men’s Results Thursday December 7:

QF: Richard Smith/Sebastian Valenciano (CRC) d Davis Montero/Elmar Valdez (PAN) 2-0 (21-14, 21-15); Carlos Escobar/David Vargas (ESA) d Irvin Reyes/Manuel Serrano (HON) 2-0 (21-14, 21-13); Rubén Mora/Danny Lopez (NCA) d Luis Luna/Gabriel Nuñez (BIZ) 2-0 (21-9, 21-5); SF: Andy Leonardo/Luis Garcia (GUA) d Carlos Escobar/David Vargas (ESA) 2-0 (21-13, 21-15).