Mylene Paat and her boyfriend Kazakh volleyball player Sergey Rezanov. –MARLO CUETO/INQUIRER.net
MANILA, Philippines — Mylene Paat and Kazakh volleyball player Sergey Rezanov proved to be a match made in heaven as the two opposite spikers, who met in Thailand as imports for Nakhon Ratchasima a year ago, became partners in life.
The reigning Premier Volleyball League Reinforced Conference MVP made a surprising announcement on April 29 that she said yes to the marriage proposal of Rezanov.
“Sobrang happy ko na mangiyak-ngiyak talaga ako. Sobrang happy ko na finally ito nga napagdesisyonan namin. Sobrang nasurprise ako sa ginawa niya,” Paat told INQUIRER Sports after the Philippine women’s volleyball team training.
(I was really happy with what he did. I was on the verge of tears. I’m happy that we decided to make a decision [to make a commitment]. I was surprised by the proposal.)
Both Paat and Rezanov played as imports for Nakhon Ratchasima QminC in the 2021-22 Volleyball Thailand League.
While Paat is playing for Chery Tiggo in the Philippines, Rezanov saw action in Libya for Alahly Benghazi Sports Club. The 29-year-old Filipino admitted that the long-distance relationship wasn’t easy but they kept on finding ways to make it work.
“Sobrang challenging, siyempre LDR. Nung time na yun sobrang broken, ko nawala kasi yung mom ko sobrang broken na broken ako. Parang binalewala ko na lahat ng personal relationship,” said Paat. “Sobrang happy lang ako kasi nagwork yung relationship namin and nasa center talaga namin si God.”
(Being on LDR is really challenging. At that time I was really broken after losing my mom. I wasn’t thinking about all my personal relationships. I’m happy that our relationship worked out because we put God in the center of it.)
Paat is still amazed that she found the one in Rezanov. With both of them playing the same position in volleyball, Paat shared that they even talked about how their future kids could become volleyball players, too.
“Siyempre sobrang nakakaexcite kasi pinaguusapan namin na yung future children namin magiging volleyball player na tuturuan namin, hanggang sa siyempre maging kaya namin and sana maangatan pa yung meron samin ngayon,” she said.
(We’re excited because we’ve been talking about how our future children could become volleyball players that we can teach. Hopefully, they can be like us or surpass our talents.)
Photo from Mylene Paat’s Instagram
But for now, Paat is setting aside the bliss over her engagement as she shifts her focus on the Philippine women’s volleyball team in the 32nd Southeast Asian Games starting on Tuesday against the host Cambodia.
“Pinagusapan namin na focus muna talaga ko sa SEA Games tsaka na namin pagusapan yung mga susunod na kabanata,” she said.
(We talked about how I’m going to focus on the SEA Games first before we talked about our next plans.)
The 28-year-old Kazakh hitter has been helping Paat and the national team since they came back from a two-week training camp in Japan.
“Of course, yan yung pinakamagandang meron sa relationship namin kasi may connection kami. Hindi lang sa as a partner parang magkaibigan kami, coach namin yung isa’t isa, sineshare namin kung ano yung mga knowledge na meron kami,” Paat said.
(That’s the best thing about our relationship. We have this connection, not just as partners. We’re also friends and each other’s coaches. We share the knowledge that we have with each other.)