PHUKET, Thailand—The Philippines got off to an auspicious start in men’s beach volleyball even as its women’s 3×3 basketball squad dropped a heartbreaker to Mongolia Sunday in the 4th Asian Beach Games here.
Louijie Tipgos and Jade Becaldo of Team PH A upset the highly fancied duo of Oman’s Al Subhi Badar and Al Hashmi Mazin, 16-21, 21-13, 15-11, under searing heat at the Karon Central Beach here.
“I really didn’t expect this victory. Oman is one of the toughest teams here,” said coach Eric Jason Le Cain.
Team Philippines B had an easier debut as Edmar Bonono and Edward Ybanez tallied a 21-9, 21-12 win over Mohamed Nihad and Abdul Hameed Adnan of Maldives in the meet’s centerpiece event featuring 45 pairs from 25 countries.
“We managed to win our first two games. I hope we could sustain this in succeeding matches,” said Le Cain.
The Filipinos must prevail in three of the five elimination-round games to advance to the medal round. Tipgos and Becaldo will face Turkmenistan today while Ybanez and Bonono are up against Palestine.
Over at Karon Park, the Perlas Pilipinas cagebelles came close to victory before Mongolia pulled off a 12-11 victory.
Ganzul Davaasuren of Mongolia stole off Lalaine Flormata with 21 seconds remaining and Mongolia forged ahead with a free throw by Solongo Bayasgalan. Mary Joy Galicia drove on the next play in but missed the game-tying shot.
The country’s cagebelles dropped to 1-1 in the four-team bracket and they need to beat China today to reach the semifinals.
The Philippines failed to capture a medal on the third day of action after seizing two gold medals and a bronze in ju-jitsu and another bronze in duathlon courtesy of Robeno Javier.