HAVANA.- (ACN) Karell Peña and Daisel Quesada as well as Leila Martínez - Yanisleidis Sánchez will be the Cuban pairs attending since Friday the beginning of the 2017 season of the NORCECA Beach Volleyball Circuit in La Paz, Baja California, USA.

The men's team (Peña-Quesada) ranks second in Cuba, but they already won experience and medals in this event.

They will also attend the second phase in the Cayman Islands this same month, while Nivaldo Diaz and Sergio Gonzalez, Cuba´s first squad, will depart today to Malaysia to debut next week in the fourth phase of the World Tour.

In 2015 and 2016, Diaz and Gonzalez competed in 12 stages of the NORCECA circuit and won 11 gold medals; they only lost to the American Olympic medalist duo, said Leonides Regueiferos, head coach of the Caribbean first pair.

Mayra Ferrer, coach of the women´s side, noted they made a change in the duo by replacing the experienced Lianma Flores by young player Yanisleidis Sanchez, who despite being only 21, has already experience in NORCECA events.

The favorites in the men´s event of La Paz stop are the Cuban duet, the Mexican pair made up by experienced Juan Virgen and Lombardo Ontiveros, in addition to the local duo of Stafford Slick and Reid Priddy.

Meanwhile, the main aspirants to medals in the women´s event are the two couples of Canada and USA.