Beach Volleyball in final stages in Cartagena

CARTAGENA, Colombia, July 22, 2006.- The Puerto Rican duo of Raul Papaleo and Joseph Gil moved to the semi finals of the men’s beach volleyball tournament at the XX Central American and Caribbean Games with a victory over the Colombian pair of Wilfredo Barrios-Herney Saldarriaga by score of 21-13, 21-17.

The Puerto Ricans dominated the first set without problems but had to erase a deficit of 11-8 to obtain the triumph in the second.

The defending champions Puerto Ricans now will have the opposition of the Cubans Francisco Alvarez-Wilfredo Villa in one of the semi finals.

Mexicans Ulises Ontiveros-Lombardo Ontiveros had to battle for three sets to beat Costa Ricans Marcelo Arraya-Jonathan Guevara by score of 18-21, 21-12, 15-11.

The Costa Ricans dominated the first set with an effective offensive combination, but the experience of the Ontiveros brothers made things to happen in the following sets.

The other semi final in the men’s tournament will pit Ontiveros-Ontiveros against the Venezuelan pair Jackson Henriquez-Igor Hernandez.

The winners of the Sunday morning session will play for the gold in the afternoon while the losers will battle for the remaining bronze medal. Colombians and Costa Ricans will play for the fifth place.

In other matches, Jeovanny Medrano-Francisco Abreu of El Salvador defeated Dominicans Jeuddys Perez-Francisco Abreu for the seventh place, Honduras finished in the ninth place with a victory over Trinidad & Tobago and St. Kitts & Nevis beat U.S. Virgin Islands for the eleventh position.

In the women’s side, Puerto Ricans Lyann Puig and Yamileska Yantin advanced to the semi finals with a strong victory over Colombians Andrea Galindo-Claudia Galindo by score of 21-13, 21-10, and Mexicans Vanesa Virgen-Martha Revuelta had little opposition from Dominicans Margarita Suero-Rosa Medrano in their victory 21-10, 21-14.

Virgen-Revuelta will meet in the semi final round against Venezuelans Frankelina Rodriguez-Alejandra Garcia, and Puig-Yantin will oppose Cubans Tamara Larrea-Dalixia Fernandez. Colombians and Dominicans will play for the fifth position.

In other matches, Maria Jose Orellana-Ana Ramirez of Guatemala beat Costa Ricans Natalia Alfaro-Yanina Aguilar for the seventh place, Indira Inestroza-Sonia Pino of Honduras beat Nancy Joseph-Andrea Davis of Trinidad & Tobago 21-14, 21-12 for the ninth slot and Laura Molina-Diana Romero of El Salvador finished in the eleventh place with their victory over U.S. Virgin Islands 21-13, 21-13.