Cuba reaches Final at Worlds U21

BRNO, Czech Republic, July 1, 2017 – Cuba delivered a major upset by defeating title-contenders Russia in the first semifinal of the FIVB Volleyball Men’s U21 World Championship. 

Miguel David Gutierrez once again proved to be the big leader in the Caribbean squad with a fantastic all-around performance on the way to the 3-1 (25-15, 25-18, 16-25, 25-23) victory.

Gutierrez was the best scorer of the match with 19 points, including four aces and two kill blocks. His teammate Miguel Angel Lopez added another 17 points, while middle blocker Aleksei Kononov was Russia’s top scorer with 13 points.

Nicolas Vives Coffigny, coach of Cuba: “Of course we are very happy because at the very least we have a medal. We have worked for a long time to get this good result. We have not reached our limit yet, and we are going to fight tomorrow for an even better result.”

Adrian Eduardo Goide, captain of Cuba: “Everyone is very, very, very happy with this game. This game was very hard and was on a very good level. We came to the court to enjoy the game and we played very hard. That is why we won.”