Cuba claim the bronze medal

CORDOBA, México, November 30, 2014 - Cuba claimed the bronze medal at the XXII Central American and Caribbean Games after beating Mexico in straight sets. Scores were 25-19, 43-41 and 25-22.

Osmany Uriarte registered 23 points for Cuba, while Javier Jiménez and Livan Osoria finished with 14 apiece. Iván Márquez scored 17 and Carlos Guerra tallied 13 (2 aces) for Mexico.

Cuba Dominated 10-8 in blocks and 5-2 in collective aces, with 2 by Javier Jimenez and 2 by Livan Osoria. Mexico gave up 29 points by error and Cuba 23.

Second set between Mexico and Cuba (43-41, 84 points) was the highest scoring one, overpassing the first set of the match between Bahamas and Colombia (32-30, 62 points) of the qualification round for places 5 to 8.

“We finished the tournament learning a lot from Mexico. I want to congratulate both teams. Physically they were not very well. But they played with pride and force specially in the second set. It was a very difficult match,” said Cuban coach Rodolfo Sánchez.

“I want to congratulate Cuba for this medal. I feel like we played just for a few moments and when you create a lot of plays and you can conclude the 30 or 70 percent of them against Cuba or any other opponent, it is difficult,” said Ivan Contreras, coach of Mexico.

“There is nothing a lot to say, but I feel that in the second set we had a lot of good opportunities and we could not get the best of them. We could make the match last longer, but didn’t closed the set concretely,” said Carlos Guerra, captain of Mexico.

“It was a good result. A very important match. I’m satisfied for the medal. We were looking for the gold medal, but finished third. We gave our best since the beginning and we have to work more as we move on,” said Rolando Cepeda, captain of Cuba.