NAGOYA-Cherry Ann ‘Sisi’ Rondina and Bernadeth Pons opened their campaign with a 17-21, 21-10, 10-15 loss to a towering pair from Kazakhstan but hope is not lost in the Aicho-Nagoya 20th Asian Games for the Philippines most popular and No. 1 tandem.
‘We missed the opportunity, that’s all I can say,’ Rondina said after the match at the Hekinan Ryokuchi Beach Court. ‘We could have done better, but we remain on the bright side.’
The duo joined compatriots Sofiah Shanine Pagara and Khylem Harl Progella in the last 16, but the men’s pair of Lerry John Francisco and Alnakran Abdilla went winless after setbacks to Qatar and Oman and didn’t get past the pool play.
The two Filipina pairs are in the knockout round and a victory would push them to the medal play for a chance to improve on the fifth-place finish in the games Dij Rodriguez and Gen Eslapor booked in Hangzhou three years ago.
James Buytrago and Ronniel Rosales, meanwhile, fight for survival against Vietnam’s Lam Toi Nguyen and Van Viet Tran-both teams are 1-1 won-lost in Pool C behind Indonesia (2-0).
‘We’re looking positive for the coming days,’ Rondina said. ‘It’s saddening and at the same time exciting to see what happens next.’
She added: ‘We need to prepare for the coming matches, the games are far from over.’
They’re now focusing on recovery and making adjustments and cleaning up their execution before their next match on Monday-they await Sunday’s results for their next opponent.
The Philippines sent three pairs to the knockout rounds in Hangzhou-Rodriguez and Eslapor to the quarterfinals and finished fifth and Khylem Progella-Grydelle Matibag and Jude Garcia-Buytrago both reached the round of 16.
The Philippines has yet to make the podium since beach volleyball was on the Asian Games program in 1998.