Blu Girls tangle with Hong Kong in Asian tilt

NANTOU, Taiwan—The Philippine Blu Girls open their quest for a berth in the 2012 World Championship when they face Hong Kong Wednesday at the start of the 10th Asian Women’s Softball Championship at the Ciaoguang field here.

The Blu Girls, who will be defending their title in the coming 26th Southeast Asian Games, and the Hongkongites, battle at 9 a.m.

The opening day salvo will also see host Chinese Taipei battling Indonesia at 3 p.m.

The Philippines, once ranked third in the world and four-time Asian championship runner up since its inception in 1967, is bracketed in Pool A of the two-group, 13-team elimination round along with defending champion Japan, also the reigning Olympic Games titleholder, South Korea, North Korea, Iraq, Thailand and Hong Kong.

In Pool B are 2007 runner-up Chinese Taipei, China, Indonesia, Singapore, Pakistan and India.

The top two teams from each pool after the elimination advance to the Final Four of the page system format to decide the two finalists that will dispute the crown and lead two other teams that will qualify to the 2012 World Championship.

Making it to the Final Four looks tough as the Blu Girls have to hurdle not only the tough Japanese but also the South Koreans, who beat them, 4-3, in the 2010 Asian Games, and the North Koreans.

The Blu Girls, whose trip here was funded by the Philippine Sports Commission, Cebuana Lhuillier, Pera Padala, Le Soleil de Boracay and Cebuana Lhuillier Insurance Solutions, play the two Koreas in a tough doubleheader assignment Thursday in what could decide their fate in their campaign to advance into the semifinal round.