Honduras win five-set duel with Panama

Tegucigalpa, Honduras, July 10, 2012 - Hosts Honduras had to stretch to the limit to beat Panama 25-20, 20-25, 18-25, 25-22 and 15-10 in the last match of Day One in the First U-23 Men’s Central American Championship. The contest lasted 2 hours and 5 minutes.

Ornelio Watler was the most effective for Honduras scoring 12 points while Jose Rios to topped Panama with 15 points, 14 of them with spikes.

Honduras’ Captain Alan Padilla said: "We knew Panama would be a tough opponent. At the start the nerves affected us, but the public support gave us confidence to move forward with this game."

In the first game of the day, El Salvador defeated Belize 3 sets to 2 (23-25​​, 25-16, 20-25, 25-16 and 15-10), in a match that could have gone either way.

El Salvador’s Mauricio Gil scored 15 points and was seconded by Rodrigo Chavez with 11 points. Belize’s Arnie Augustine had 15 points.

Captain Franklin Flores of El Salvador said: “The nerves betrayed us in the first set, we gradually gained confidence in the final two sets and things went the way we wanted."

Also, Guatemala defeated 25-12, 25-17 and 25-10 to Nicaragua in Group B.

Jeyson Flores with 14 points was the leading scorer for the Guatemalan team, supported by Luis Garcia who made 9 points.

Flores, Guatemala’s captain, said: "We were psyched to win and every game is different. Our mentality is to battle for the title.”