Miguel Angel López leads Cuban volleyball to Pan American Games in Chile

October 11, 2023

The stellar opposite-receiver of Sada Cruzeiro, Miguel Angel López, leads the Cuban volleyball team that will go to the Pan American Games in Santiago de Chile (October-November).

In addition to López, nicknamed in Brazil as the "flying Cuban," the national team includes six other players who competed in the Pre-Olympic tournament, where Cuba delivered a remarkable performance, achieving resounding victories such as the one against world champion Italy, and fought until the last minute for a direct spot to Paris-2024.

The others from the Pre-Olympic are Miguel David Gutiérrez, Christian Thondike, José Massó, Yonder García, Lyván Taboada and Alain Gorguet.

Also included in the group of 12 players under the direction of Jesús Cruz is the young opposite Alejandro Miguel González (20 years old and 2.08m), considered by experts the greatest talent in Cuban volleyball.

The roster is completed by Jakdiel Contreras, Thiago Suárez, Adrián Chirino and Yusniel Martí.

The absence of other star figures from the team is due to the fact that they did NOT receive authorization from their clubs to participate in the continental games.

In the men's volleyball tournament of Santiago2023, 8 teams will compete distributed in two groups and the Cubans are in Group A along with Brazil, Colombia and Mexico, their first opponent on October 30. Group B consists of Argentina, Puerto Rico, Chile and Dominican Republic.

The United States and Canada will not attend the competition.

Cuba has 13 medals in the history of men's volleyball in continental competitions, of which 5 are gold. They last won in Winnipeg-99 and in the last edition, in Lima-2019, they finished in silver, after losing in the final to Argentina.



TEAM OF 12 PLAYERS

Miguel Angel López.

Miguel David Gutiérrez.

Christian Thondike

José Massó.

Yonder García.

Lyván Taboada

Alain Gorguet.

Alejandro Miguel González.

Jakdiel Contreras Acosta.

Thiago Suárez.

Adrián Chirino.

Yusniel Martí.

Head Coach. Jesús Cruz.