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Saturday, December 03, 2005
Fil-Am teams meet in q-finals
By Mike T. Limpag
Sun.Star Staff Reporter
BACOLOD City – Cecille Tabuena and Michelle Laborte, representing the Philippine Women’s Team 1 in the beach volleyball event of the 23rd Southeast Asian Games, have never won a single game in the elimination round.
Today, the crowd at the University of St. La Salle field will be wishing that they lose again.
The reason? They will be taking on the crowd-favorites and gold medal hopefuls Fil-Americans Heidi Ilustre and Diane Pascua in the quarterfinal round.
RP 2’s Ilustre and Pascua remained undefeated in Pool B, after defeating Malaysia 2’s Lim Poh Bong and Iswari Manokharan, 21-13, 21-15, showing impressive skills in covering all angles and anticipating shots.
Match-ups
In the Men’s event, RP 2’s Chad Mowrey and Justin Schonnor, who split their four elimination matches, will take on Thailand 1 in the quarterfinals, while RP 1’s Rhoyvl Verayo and Parely Tupaz, who are also without a win, will face Thailand’s second team, which leads Pool B with a 3-1 slate.
In weightlifting, Cecilia Atilano took home the first medal for the Philippines in weightlifting after winning the bronze in the 63-kilogram category at the Bacolod Convention Center.
Atillano, of Zamboanga City, lifted a total of 187 kilos, 100 in the clean-and-jerk, to finish third behind Thailand’s Wandee Kameaim, who broke Myanmar’s Khin Mone New’s 2003 mark of 222.5 by lifting 230. Vietnam’s Nguyen Thiet was second with 222.
Atillano’s win equaled the team’s previous finish in the 2003, when Alvin delos Santos took home a bronze in the 94kg category, the lone medal the Philippines won.
Kameaim also tied New’s old mark in the snatch with 100 and reset the bar in the clean-and-jerk, after lifting 130. The old record in the clean-and-jerk was 125, set by Voetnam’s Nguyen Thi in the 2003 edition.
In indoor volleyball, the RP Women’s team gave everything but Thailand just proved too tough to handle as it lost, 19-25, 11-25, 12-25.
In the first set, the crowd at the West Negros College had a reason to cheer as Roxanne Pimentel and Jan Salak’s blocks allowed them to take a 9-8 advantage before the Thais employed quick attacks to take the set.
Pressured
“Going into this game, we knew we were pressured because of the crowd, it is always difficult to face the host,” Thai coach Chanbunchee Sutchai said.
“The Philippines has also improved a lot individually and as a team. We have faced them numerous times already,” Thailand’s Sayrnai Paladsrichuvy also said.
However, the crowd wasn’t much of a factor in the second and third sets as Thailand blew the home team away.
The loss also dashed the team’s hope for a shot at the gold medal, as they are have two wins and two losses.
The Men’s team, which is yet to win a single match, will end its campaign today against Indonesia.
Wilavan Apinyapong and Amporn Hyapha led the Thais with 13 points each, while Cherry Rose Macatangay’s rare spikes earned him eight points.
(December 3, 2005 issue)
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