Beach volley: Ilustre-Pascua gains main draw
By Marc Anthony Reyes
Philippine Daily Inquirer
First Posted 03:51:00 05/15/2008
The Philippines’ Olympic hopes in beach volleyball are still alive.
Filipino-American beach belles Heidi Ilustre and Diane Pascua on Wednesday barged into the main draw of the tough Korean leg of the World Tour being held in Seoul as they pursued their bid to gain points and make it to the Being Olympics this August.
But they had a lot of luck before advancing to the tournament proper.
In the morning, Ilustre and Pascua walked over Norway’s Kristine Wiig and Janne Kongshavn after Kongshavn injured her shoulder in a freak accident while warming up.
Then, in the afternoon, the Philippine bets slipped past the Doha Asian Games silver-winning Japan team of Shinako Tanaka and Eiko Koizumi, 22-20, 21-17, to formalize their entry to the main draw.
It was the first main draw stint of the Philippine duo after making it in the Phuket Open in Thailand last November. Their rivals in the first round of action which starts today have yet to be known.
“We have to start doing something right to make it to Beijing,” said sports patron Tony Boy Liao of his wards, who are currently still in 33rd place of the provisional Olympic roster.
They need to enter into the top 24 and secure a first-ever Philippine stint in the Olympics’ beach volleyball event.
So far, the Philippine pair, bronze medalist in the 2006 Asian Games in Doha and in the 2005 Southeast Asian Games, has amassed 680 points prior to its stint here. However, they will have a lot of catching to do, with the current world No. 24 team of Latvia already amassing 1,400.
Only eight legs remained in the 2008 World Tour before the Beijing cutoff—Osaka, Japan; Barcelona, Spain; Stare Jaoblonki, Poland; Berlin, Germany; Paris, France; Stavanger, Norway; Moscow, Russia; and Marseilles, France.
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