Taiwan bests PH side in 4

Chinese Taipei found its stride starting in the second set and sent the Philippines crashing to the bottom of its bracket with a 21-25, 25-18, 25-12, 25-19 drubbing Tuesday night in the Asian Women’s Under-23 Championship at Philsports Arena in Pasig.

The Taiwanese shrugged off a jittery start to frustrate the Filipinos, who again struggled with errors and fell to their third loss in four games in Pool E.

Unable to sustain a fiery start, the Filipinos’ inexperience came to the fore as the Taiwanese coasted in the last three sets to seize the No. 2 spot in Pool E. The Taiwanese will face South Korea in the quarterfinals.

“This is a learning process for us,” said PH coach Roger Gorayeb. “I’m just happy the other teams in Asia are taking notice of us.”

“I think we really tried our best in today’s game, but the breaks of the game didn’t go our way,” said skipper Alyssa Valdez.

The Filipinos seemed poised to send the match into a deciding set when they forged a 17-all deadlock in the fourth set. But a questionable net violation took away the Filipinos’ momentum.

The defeat also shoved the hosts to a knockout meeting with unbeaten China in the quarterfinals tomorrow.

Japan and China earlier avoided an early collision as they topped their respective groups with convincing victories.

The Japanese sustained their scintillating run with an emphatic 25-13, 25-7, 25-15 win over Iran to clinch the top seeding in Pool E.

Pushed to the limit by South Korea last Monday, the Chinese flexed their muscles early and coasted to a 25-13, 25-10, 25-12 whipping of Thailand in their battle for top spot in Pool F.

South Korea clinched the No. 3 seed in Pool F after crushing India, 25-18, 25-17, 25-11. The loss relegated India to the No. 4 seed.