Cuba's beach duo of Noslen Diaz and Jorge Luis Alayo won the gold medal of the Elite 16 tournament of the World Beach Volleyball Pro Tour on Sunday, defeating 2-0 the Argentine brothers Tomas and Nicolas Copogrosso, based in the Mexican city of Quintana Roo.

With the scenario in Playa del Carmen and after an easy first set, 21-13, the Francisco Alvarez Cutiño disciples had to pull out the extra to come from behind and achieve the 24-22 golden triumph.

According to the official individual statistics of the match, Alayo was key in the success, accumulating 23 points, 16 in attack, six in blocking and one in service, a performance that made him the top scorer of the challenge, supported by Diaz (13/13-0-0).

Collectively, Cuba was better in attacking, 29 points to 21, and blocking (6-3), while the South Americans did better, but only slightly, in serving (2-1) and equal in points scored by their own errors (9-9).

The bronze medal went to the United States team of Schlk-Shak, after defeating the Netherlands team of Steve Van De Velde and Brouwer 2-0 (21-19 and 21-16), who lost 2-0 (21-13 and 25-23) in the morning and in the semifinal against the Cuban team.