Noslen and Alayo, a Medal With Smell Like Paris

The bronze medal achieved this weekend by the young Cuban beach volleyball couple made up of Jorge Luis Alayo and Noslen Díaz in the Elite 16 competition based in Tepic, Mexico, was a giant step in their objective to qualify for the Olympic Games Paris 2024 due to its location on the world ranking.

Let’s remember that they had a failed experience in his previous participation in this sort of competitions, when in Doha they did not go beyond the first match in the qualification phase, and that’s why reaching the elite table was already considered a good result, but the boys got upset and they didn't stop until they won the duel for the third place.

In addition, that match represented a 21-18 and 21-17 victory over the Germans Nils Ehlers and Clemens Wickler, revenge for the setback suffered 20-22 and 14-21 in their debut after advancing on the first round.

It was also a sign of recovery after losing that same day in the semifinal to three sets against Brazilians George Souto and Andre Loyola, with whom they divided in the XIX Pan American Games in Santiago 2023 and then lost in the gold discussion in Saquarema last March 31.

In Tepic, our team had other important victory against the world champions in 2023, the Czechs Ondrej Perusic and David Schweiner, in the round of 12, and in the quarterfinals the Spanish veterans Pablo Herrera and Adrián Gavira.

This bronze was his third medal this season, added to the silver in Recife and Saquarema, in addition to fourth place in Guadalajara, but those were Challenge level stops, and now the balance in terms of points was noticeably higher.

The hopes of the Santiago de Chile 2023 Pan American runners-up to reach Paris this way have now grown strong as they approach the edge that marks that goal.

It was a giant leap, since now the last place is held by the well-known Chilean cousins Marco and Esteban Grimalt with 6,680 points and Noslen and Alayo climbed to 6,580 after adding a thousand in Tepic.

Furthermore, the South Americans have accounted for 17 tournaments, while the Cubans have only competed in 10, two still below the established figure.

For this weekend the Caribbeans will enter the Xiamen Challenge, China (April 25-28), and will then take part in the Varadero tournament (May 3-5), the latter corresponding to the second phase of the Norceca Circuit of Beach Volleyball 2024.

It will be very important to manage the strength so that the flight hours do not slow down this great momentum they took on Mexican lands, and that has them very close to fulfilling their dream. Depending on what happens in China, they would then choose the venue and category of the last world qualification event they would attend.