Cuba finishes with 2-1 record at Qualification Tournament in Canada

 

January 12, 2020: Cuba recovered from its dramatic five-set loss to Canada to defeat Mexico 3 -1 (26 -28, 25-20, 25-20, 25-21) today at the Men’s Tokyo Qualification Tournament in Vancouver, Canada.

 

Miguel Lopez of Cuba topped all scoring with 21 points, as Cuba capitalized on its strong serve and opponent errors.

 

Cuba did not get its ticket to Tokyo - Canada later defeated Puerto Rico to win the tournament and the berth to the Olympic Games.

 

Cuba #9 - Livan Osoria Rodriguez (captain)

“Yesterday was a sad day but the attitude of the team is better and we did a great job today and got the win.

Yesterday we were very close to Tokyo but we regained our focus and beat Mexico and I thought we did a great job today.

Cuba is very young team, so this was a great experience. Qualifying for Tokyo is a very hard road and maybe in the future we can qualify.”

 

 Cuba #13 – Robertlandy Simon

“We played well today so we’re happy but a little bit sad because of what happened yesterday, but life goes on.

 

I hope the rest of our team will go and play in Europe (in pro leagues) because that’s the place to go and gain the best experience and be ready for the future.”

 

Mexico Head Coach – Jorge Miguel Azair Lopez

“The tournament is finished, we had a good experience and now the focus is on the next four years. It’s time to develop for the future.”