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Greek and Turkish clubs sign Cuban volleyballers

Xinhua, July 1, 2015 Adjust font size:

Cuban volleyball players Rolando Cepeda and Osmany Uriarte will respectively join Greece and Turkey's professional leagues in the coming seasons announced sources from the Cuban Volleyball Federation (FCV) on Tuesday.

Cepeda, captain and wing spiker for the Cuban national team, will join the professional Greek side P.A.O.K. Thessaloniki and Uriarte will play in the Turkish league said FCV President Ariel Sainz.

Cepeda will be the second Cuban to play for the Greek team as Javier Jimenez has been playing for P.A.O.K. since 2014.

The signing process is currently at the stage of going over all the legal aspects of the contracts, said Sainz.

Last year Cuban authorities authorized its volleyball players to be signed up by professional clubs abroad. This practice began in mid-2013 with baseball and in January 2014 the authorization extended to all sports.

These measures mark the island's return to professional sport which was abolished in 1961. It also corresponds to the reforms which have been driven by President Raul Castro since 2008 to revive the island's socialist model.

Cuba has participated in 24 volleyball World Leagues accumulating nine medals including one gold (1998). The men's team finished up at the bottom of Group C on June 28 in the second level of the XXVI edition of the league. The team had hoped to reach the final.

The FCV is also looking into offers submitted for four players from the female team, said Sainz, adding that among them was captain Sulian Matienzo and 15-year-old Melissa Vargas. Enditem