2 PH beach volleyball teams still around

Phuket, Thailand—The Philippine men’s beach volleyball teams moved closer to the medal rounds Wednesday in the 4th Asian Beach Games here.

Louijie Tipgos and Jade Becaldo survived their Sri Lanka rivals, 21-17, 11-21, 15-11, while Edward Ybanez and Edmar Bonono also earned a spot in the round of 24 with an emphatic 21-15, 21-15 victory over Pakistan’s Mubashir Raza and Muhammad Razzaq at Karon Central Beach.

Tipgos and Becaldo finished Pool G in second place following a loss to China and wins over Oman, Turkmenistan and Indonesia.

“By moving on to the next round, they’ve already exceeded our expectations,” said coach Eric Jason Le Cain.

Ybanez, a prized find from the University of Southern Philippines Foundation, and Bonono downed Maldives and Palestine and Pakistan but lost to Hong Kong and Indonesia to end up third in Pool F.

Over at Patong Central Beach, light welterweight Jonathan Polosan and middleweight Joel Zaspa opened the bid of Filipino muay fighters on a positive note after hammering their respective opponents to submission.

Polosan, a silver medalist in the Burma Southeast Asian Games, booked a seat in the quarterfinals of the men’s 63.5kg category against Bobirjon Tagaev of Uzbekistan after outclassing India’s Harish in the first round.

Zaspa, the team’s latest discovery from Cebu, took longer to dispose of Kamlesh Dewangan of India but still got the job done by knocking out his rival in the second round. He will face Iran’s Hossein Karami in the semifinals.

The Philippines stayed at 13th overall among 45 countries after seven days of action with two gold medals, one silver and four bronzes.

The Philippine Amigas bowed out of medal contention after absorbing their fourth straight defeat in women’s handball at Karon Park.