The Cuban duo of Noslen Díaz and Jorge Luis Alayo achieved two victories, led their group in the Beach Volleyball World ProTour Challenge in Xiamen, China, and moved to 17th place in the ranking Olympic provisional.
In the first match they were forced to play three threes against the French brother duo of Calvin Aye and Quincy Aye, beaten by the long trip from Mexico, where they made history by winning their first medal in an Elite 16 event on the world circuit.
In the second hour they had the strong Brazilian duo of Solberg and Guto fail to show up, to advance to the round of 16 stage.
After the two victories, Francisco Alvarez Cutiño’s students added another 460 points in the Olympic ranking and displaced the Chilean cousins Grimalt from 17th place – the last one that grants a ticket by ranking to Paris-2024 –, published the specialized portal Cubansp1ke.
The Cubans were 100 units behind the Chileans before the tournament in China.
The current season has been by far the best season for the Cuban volleyball duo, with three medals on the World Tour, one of them in a top-level competition with victories against several of the best in the world.