Guatemala win gold medal at AFECAVOL U-23

Honduras, Tegucigalpa, July 14, 2012 – Guatemala claimed the gold medal of the U-23 Men’s Central American Cup on Saturday by defeating Costa Rica 3-0 (25-19, 25-22, 25-17) in a final match played at Tegucigalpa Gymnasium that lasted 1 hour and 28 minutes.

The victory earned Guatemala a ticket to represent Central America in the First U-23 Men’s Pan American Cup to be held in Vancouver, Canada from September 23 to October 1.

Jeyson Flores, selected as Most Valuable Player of the tournament, collected 25 points and Luis García had 12 for Guatemala, a team that didn’t lose a single set during the competition. Ricky Vargas topped Costa Rica with 9 points.

“I am very glad, everything went the way we wanted, we wanted the title and we got it”, Flores said. “We played match by match, point by point, the hard work we did in Guatemala paid its fruits.”

In the match for third position, Honduras edged Belize in five thrilling sets (26-24, 16-25, 22-25, 25-23, 15-10).

Ricardo Vásquez was the best scorer for the winners with 13 points while Alan Padilla and  Jahzeel Yanes contributed 12 and 11 respectively. For Belize, Karym Coleman and Keith Castillo charted 19 and 18 respectively and brothers Jaleel and Iván Lino finished with 15 and 11.

In the qualification for the 6 and 7 positions, Nicaragua defeated Panama 3-1 (21-25, 25-20, 25-22, 26-24).

Lester Martínez led Nicaragua with 23 points, followed by Arnaldo Castro with 11. For Panama, Jose Rios had 18 and Jose Gonzalez and Gilmar Fuentes had 13 and 10 respectively.

Final Positions: 1. Guatemala, 2. Costa Rica, 3. Honduras, 4. Belize, 5. El Salvador, 6. Nicaragua y 7. Panamá

Individual Awards

MVP: Jeyson Flores GUA

Best Scorer: Jeyson Flores GUA

Best Spiker: Ricky Vargas CRC

Best Blocker: Luis García GUA

Best Server: Luis García GUA

Best Setter: Sergio Ralda GUA

Best Digger: Cristopher Navarrete NCA

Best Receiver: Rodrigo Chávez ESA

Best Libero: Cristopher Navarrete NCA