HAVANA.- Cuba achieved a surprising victory over Serbia and Montenegro in a heart-breaking match 3-2 (25-20, 23-25, 25-21, 15-25 and 18-16), after more than two hours of hard-fought battle in front of a large crowd Saturday night at Havana's Ciudad Deportiva Hall.
 

The young Cuban team obtained its most important win in over three years, the first against the Sydney Olympic champions since 1998, when the Island claimed the World League title.  In the tie-break, the hard-fought battle continued until the 16th point and then captain Pavel Pimienta and Yasser Portuondo blocked when it mattered to achieve a historic triumph to the delight of more than 10.000 spectators at the Ciudad Deportiva Hall.

Raydel Poey led the Cuban attack with 18 points, followed by Yenry Bell (15), Portuondo (13) and Pimienta (13). Goran Vujevic was Serbia's top scorer with 19 points, supported by Alexander Mitrovic (12) and Milan Vasic (11).

The duel in Havana finished with a victory for each team in pool C. Cuba will visit Italy and Serbia and Montenegro will host China next weekend.