The Argentine volleyball team won this Thursday in Ottawa an important victory against local Canada in a new day of Group 4 of the Volleyball Nations League which allows it to remain among the teams that will go to the Olympic Games of Paris and, incidentally, will continue in the race for the final of this competition which will take place in Poland from June 27.

It was a resounding 3-1 (25-18, 22-25, 25-21 and 25-20) for the team led by Marcelo Méndez. This victory, in addition to leaving behind the defeat suffered against the United States, added 4.4 points to the world ranking which will allow it to obtain the five remaining places for Paris 2024.

These 4.4 points gained take on even more value if we consider that Cuba, which lost by the same score against the Netherlands, lost 9.66 points. In this way, the national distribution obtained a balance of 14.06 from the Central Americans, thus it accumulates 304.96 and stands out among the teams that obtain for the moment the Olympic ticket behind Italy (364, 77), Slovenia (335.00) and ahead of Serbia. (247.59), Cuba (242.53) and the Netherlands (222.71).

Among these six selected, four will go to the Games, adding to the best ranked in Africa – Egypt so far – and to those who already have their place assured, which are France – as host – l Germany, Brazil, the United States, Japan, Poland and Canada.

The match against Canada? This left a very good performance from Luciano De Cecco, who looked inspired to fuel the attacking play. The top scorers were Luciano Palonsky, with 14 points, followed by central defenders Bruno Loser (13) and Nicolás Zerba 12). Facundo Conte also excelled, with 11 goals.

The next match of the national team, ninth in the general standings of the League of Nations, will take place on Saturday at 9 p.m. against Serbia, a direct rival in the fight for a place in Paris.