Asian Games: PH women’s beach volley teams advance to next round

FILE-Gen Eslapor and Dij Rodriguez. CONTRIBUTED PHOTO

MANILA, Philippines — The Philippines’ Khylem Harl Progella and Grydelle Joanice Matibag absorbed their first loss in Pool B after getting swept by Indonesia’s Dhita Juliana and Desi Ratnasari, 14-21, 10-21, in the Asian Games women’s beach volleyball competition on Wednesday at Ningbo Banbianshan Beach Volleyball Centre in Hangzhou, China.

But the young tandem of Progella and Matibag, who are part of the national team’s first beach volleyball participation in the Asiad since 2006, are still assured of a berth to the Round of 16, where four from the five-team groups will compete.

Before dropping to a 1-1 record, the pair debuted with a 17-21, 23-21, 15-13 win over Wong Man Ching and To Wing Tung of Hong Kong on Tuesday.

Progella and Matibag eye their second win against Tam Kin Teng and Lei Keng Lai of Macau on Thursday.

Meanwhile, Dij Rodriguez and Gen Eslapor split their Pool A assignments, losing to China before bouncing back against Kazakhstan.

Rodriguez, the lone holdover from the two-time Southeast Asian Games bronze medalist team, and her partner Eslapor were dominated by China’s Xue Chen and  Xia Xinyi, 11-21, 6-21.

But the seasoned Filipino duo got their acts together in their evening game, venting their ire on Kazakhstan’s Laura Kabulbekova and Nadezhda Ivanchenko, 21-11, 21-14.

Rodriguez and Eslapor are also bound for the next round with a 2-1 record in Pool A including their opening 21-11, 21-6 win over Korea’s Shin Jieun and Kim Seyeon on Tuesday. 

The Philippine team from Pool A will end its group campaign against Deepika Bandara Madagedara and Chathurika Madushan Kumbure Gedara of Sri Lanka on Friday.

Earlier, the Philippine men’s beach volleyball team’s James Buytrago and Jude Garcia fell to China’s Wu Jiaxin and Abuduhalikejiang Mutailipu in three sets, 18-21, 22-20, 16-18.

Buytrago and Garcia dropped their first game in Pool A, needing to win against Maldives’ Sajid Ismail and Adam Naseem on Thursday to qualify for the round of 16.

Jaron Requinton and Ranran Abdilla also dropped their first match on Tuesday, falling to Indonesia’s Danangsyah Pribadi and Sofyan Efendi, 12-21, 18-21.

Requinton and Abdilla try to stay in contention against Qatar’s Cherif Younousse and Ahmed Tijan also on Thursday.