Nicaragua and Costa Rica top U21 in Central America

SAN SALVADOR, El Salvador, July 20, 2014 – Nicaragua continues to dominate the U21 Men’s Central American Championship by winning their third consecutive gold medal with the duo of Ruben Mora and Miguel López, who defeated in two thrilling sets (21-19, 28-26) the team of Carlos Rodríguez and Armando Guatemala of El Salvador.

In the first set the Nicaraguans came from behind to win 21-19 and in the second they prevailed after a kilometric set that lasted 26 minutes much to the delight of the fans who crowded the stands of the El Salvador Federation sand courts.

Costa Rica with Anthony Solis and Andrey Quintero claimed the bronze medal with a three-set (21-19, 16-21, 23-21) victory over Nicaragua-2 of Gerson Contreras and Denis Lopez.

New champions

Costa Rica’s Gabriela Arias and Yuliana Gonzalez won the women’s gold medal with a 2-0 (21-12, 21-15) win over Guatemala’s Estephanie Bethancourt and Natalia Giron.

Last year the first place went to El Salvador with Guatemala finishing and Costa Rica taking the bronze with a victory over Nicaragua.

Nicaragua’s Osiris Juarez and Socorro Lopez took the bronze medal with a 2-0 (21-18, 21-14) victory against Aura Cortez and Alexandra Calderon of El Salvador-1.

In the men’s semifinals, Mora/Lopez defeated Contreras/Lopez 2-1 (19-21, 21-17, 15-8) in a duel between Nicaraguans while the duo of El Salvador defeated Solís/Quintero 2-0 (21-17, 25-23).

The duo Arias/Gonzalez finished with a 5-0 win-loss balance while Bethancourt/Giron closed with a 4-1 mark.