PH switching to men’s beach handball soon

The Philippines will make a big pivot to beach handball—specifically the men’s squad—after breaking through recently in the Southeast Asian Games by winning a bronze medal.For the coaching staff, led by Jana Franquelli, the men’s team has proven to be competitive enough to compete with the region’s more established teams like Thailand and Vietnam.

“Focus will be on developing the men’s beach handball squad because that’s where have they more potential to excel,” Franquelli said.The Philippines’ “Banat Boys” stormed to the medal round of the biennial meet with two straight wins. But they fell to eventual champion Vietnam and Thailand to settle for bronze.

“Those were very close and exciting matches,” Franquelli said of the last two matches in the SEA Games.

The Philippines, displaying speed and spunk despite the height disadvantage, gave the country its last medal in the Games’ very last event.

The games attracted big crowds at Subic, which led the Philippine Handball Federation leadership to believe the sport has “enough potential to become as popular as beach volleyball.”

Franquelli helped start the sport in the country in 2013.