MATCH INFO

Berlin, Germany, June 10, 2012 – World No. 5 Cuba kept their chance of qualifying for the Olympic Games alive after beating winless India 3-0 (25-12, 25-22, 25-20) on the third and final day of the  FIVB Men’s World Olympic Qualification Tournament held at Max- Schmeling Hall in Berlin, Germany on Sunday.

After succumbing to Germany in five dramatic sets on Saturday, Cuba needed a convincing win to stay in contention depending on the result of the last match of the tournament between undefeated Germany and the Czech Republic.

Cuba’s Rolando Cepeda was the match top scorer with 23 points while India captain Singh Gurinder was the team’s best with 11 points.

The win raised Cuba's win:loss record to 2:1 while India dropped to 0:3.
 
It was the first match ever between Cuba and India in an FIVB competition.

As expected world vice-champions Cuba quickly took the lead in the first set and didn´t give India a chance to score. It wasn’t until Cuba had reached 11 points that India scored their first point of the match. Cuba left no doubt who was the superior team by taking out the set 25-12, demonstrating great defence and strong spikes with Cepeda especially to the fore scoring 11 points in the first set.

India fared better in the second set, keeping up with Cuba in the early stages and at one stage taking the lead at 6-5. However, Cuba didn’t panic and soon levelled at 9-9 although found it harder to actually shake their Asian opponents loose. It wasn’t until some unforced errors from India gave Cuba the set 25-22.

India succeeded in keeping pace with Cuba once again at the beginning of the third set but this time Cuba wanted a quick finish to the set and the match. Some great serving and spiking saw Cuba open up a 14-10 lead although India fought gamely again, Isbel Mesa finally converted the match point for Cuba with a strong spike down centre court.