Silver for Beach Duo Gómez-Veranes at Norceca Final Stage

JUAN DOLIO, Dominican Republic – Cuba's beach volleyball duo of Damián Gómez and Eblis Veranes secured the silver medal today at the Final and eleventh stage of the Norceca Tour, falling 0-2 to the Canadian pair on the sands of Juan Dolío.

According to the website www.norceca.net, the second-ranked Cuban pair lost the title match in close sets of 18-21 and 20-22 after 39 minutes of play. This result saw Canadians Samuel Schachter and Jonathan Pickett repeat their victory over Gómez and Veranes from the Group D preliminaries, which also ended 2-0 (21-16, 21-18).

The duo from the largest of the Antilles advanced to the final by defeating the Salvadoran brothers Christopher Armando and Yoel Alejandro Guardado 2-0 (21-15, 21-13) in the semifinals this morning.

The bronze medal went to the Salvadoran pair, who overcame the Dominican cousins Francisco and Antonio de Jesús 2-1 (19-21, 22-20, 18-16).

The Cubans advanced to the semifinal on Saturday with 2-0 and 2-1 victories over teams from the Virgin Islands and Mexico, respectively.

Gómez and Veranes concluded the preliminary phase with two wins and one loss, a positive balance they completed on Saturday when they defeated the Virgin Islands' duo of Mayer and Penberthy, who retired from the court due to a player's injury.

In the quarterfinals during the afternoon session, the Cubans dispatched the Mexicans Inés Antonio Vargas Lares and Carlos Andrés Ayala with scores of 21-18, 18-21, and 15-12 in 50 minutes of play.

They had debuted on Friday in Group D of the preliminaries with a 0-2 loss to the Canadian pair but later defeated the United States duo 2-1.

They started by losing to the Canadian duo of Schachter-Pickett, with scores of 16-21 and 18-21 in 42 minutes of action.

However, in their second outing, they beat the American pair of Cory and Bradford, 21-17, 17-21, 15-10, in 50 minutes.

Winning a medal was important, but even more so was securing a berth for the 2026 Santo Domingo Central American and Caribbean Games, a multi-sport event that will feature a minimum of 12 teams per gender.

A total of 16 men's and women's teams from 17 countries were registered for the tournament.

Gómez and Veranes arrived in the Dominican Republic with the silver medal from the Punta Cana stop and bronzes from Guadalajara and Varadero, so they now boast a haul of two silver and two bronze medals.

Among the men's duos present in the Dominican Republic, the Mexicans Inés Vargas and Carlos Andrés Ayala were also among the favorites, having accumulated gold in Puerto Cortés, silver in Suriname, and bronze in both Punta Cana and the previous stop in Juan Dolío.

They also won a bronze medal at the U-21 World Championship this year in Puebla.

The United States was represented by Cory and Bradford, champions in Guadalajara, while Canada featured the experienced Schachter alongside Pickett, bronze medalists at the Norceca Qualification Tournament for the 2025 World Championship.