Puerto Rico, Cuba, Nicaragua and Mexico Advance

to the Men’s Semifinals at Santo Domingo 2026

SANTO DOMINGO, Dominican Republic, July 30, 2026. – Puerto Rico, Cuba, Nicaragua and Mexico secured their places in the semifinals of the men’s beach volleyball tournament at the 25th Central American and Caribbean Games Santo Domingo 2026 on Thursday after winning their respective quarterfinal matches.

The semifinals will be played on Friday at the Malecón Deportivo. At 9:00 a.m., Puerto Rico’s William and Daniel Rivera will take on Cuba’s Damián Gómez and Eblis Veranes. Later, at 10:00 a.m., Nicaragua’s Jefferson Cascante and Rubén Mora will face defending champions Mexico, represented by Carlos Andrés Ayala and Inés Lares.

Puerto Rico’s William and Daniel Rivera opened the quarterfinal round with a convincing 2-0 (21-14, 21-12) victory over Venezuela’s Esyenser Delgado and Oscar Kirchner to secure the first semifinal berth.

Later, Cuba’s Gómez and Veranes defeated Costa Rica’s Julián Araya and Stanley Grant in straight sets, 2-0 (21-15, 21-19), in a match that was much closer than the final score indicated.

The most closely contested quarterfinal featured Nicaragua and the Dominican Republic. Jefferson Cascante and Rubén Mora rallied to defeat Hayerling De Jesús and Oscar Martínez 2-1 (16-21, 21-19, 15-11), eliminating the host team and advancing to the semifinals in pursuit of another appearance in the gold medal match, following their runner-up finish at the previous Games in El Salvador.

In the final quarterfinal, defending Central American and Caribbean Games champion Mexico advanced to the semifinals as Carlos Andrés Ayala and Inés Lares defeated El Salvador’s Rafael and Gabriel Vargas 2-0 (21-14, 21-14).

In the classification matches for places five through eight, Costa Rica’s Araya/Grant defeated Venezuela’s Esyenser/Kirchner 2-1 (21-13, 15-21, 15-11), while El Salvador’s Rafa and Gabo earned a victory over the Dominican Republic’s De Jesús/Martínez after the host pair retired due to injury.

Belize’s Broaster/Hauze finished in ninth place with a 2-0 (21-14, 21-12) victory over Guatemala’s Maldonado/Izaguirre, while Saint Kitts and Nevis, represented by Morton/Zendai, finished in eleventh place after defeating the Cayman Islands’ Jesario/Lynee 2-0 (22-20, 21-16).

Other results:

Izaguirre/Maldonado (GUA) d Morton/Richards (SKN) 2-0 (21-18, 21-14); Broaster/Hauze (BIZ) d Ebanks/Lynee (CAY) 2-1 (21-18, 18-21, 16-14).