Handball: Tough Vietnam shoots down ‘Amigas’

UBON RATCHATHANI, Thailand—The fledgling Philippine women’s handball team ran into an unforgiving Vietnam squad late Thursday and absorbed its second straight defeat, 32-10, in the Southeast Asian Championships at Ubon Sports School multipurpose arena.

The Amigas fought a bruising 60-minute battle against a rough, merciless band of Vietnamese, who challenged every Filipino attempt and limiting their rivals to just a single goal in the opening half.

Flashy left wing Michelle Bruzola scored the first PH goal 19 minutes into the game after forcing her way through a phalanx of defenders led by European league veteran Vu Tam Di, who delivered four points.

Showing pride and grit, the Amigas fought back hard, twice losing two players  at the same time on two-minute penalty suspension for rough plays.

Bruzola topped the scoring with four goals, while Aurora Adriano added two. “Officials of other countries told me not to feel bad because Thailand and Vietnam are world class teams and that Singapore, Malaysia and Indonesia  skipped the event to spare themselves from blowout losses,” said PH head coach Joanna Franquelli. “But I feel bad because we wanted to win.”