Philippine men’s beach volleyball team. –PNVF PHOTO
MANILA, Philippines — The Philippine men’s beach volleyball team jumpstarted its 32nd Southeast Asian Games on a high note after sweeping Timor Leste in two games on Thursday at Otres Beach in Preah Sihanou, Cambodia.
Ranran Abdilla and Jaron Requinton dominated Timor Leste’s Fabricius Correia and Joel Savio Valente with a rousing 21-7, 21-13 victory.
Jude Garcia and James Buytrago completed their team’s first win in Group A, sweeping the tandem of Inocencio Fernandes Xavier and Jonio Freitas, 21-13, 21-11.
The nationals eye to surpass their back-to-back bronze medals from the past two editions.
The men’s national team will face host Cambodia on Friday. Abdilla and Requinton as well as partners Garcia and Buytrago battle Vietnam on Saturday before wrapping their Group A campaign against Laos on the next day.
The top two teams of each group will advance to the semifinals.
Meanwhile, the Philippine women’s beach volleyball squad, composed of partners Jovelyn Gonzaga and Sisi Rondina and the pair of Bernadeth Pons and Dij Rodriguez, will start its campaign on Friday against Vietnam.
The nationals will face the Vietnamese bannered by Le Thi Tuong Nguyen, Ngoc Chau, Thi My Dinh, and Thi Thanh Tram Nguyen.
Gonzaga and Rondina as well as Pons and Rodriguez will be tested in Group B against defending champion Thailand on Saturday before facing Malaysia on Sunday.
The women’s team is also seeking to surpass its two consecutive bronze medals in the past SEA Games.