Alas Pilipinas girls enter Asian Youth Games semis

MANILA, Philippines — THE PHILIPPINE girls’ volleyball team faced some anxious moments but ultimately secured a Final Four berth in girls’ volleyball, eliminating Chinese Taipei, 25-16, 20-25, 25-16, 25-18, in front of a huge crowd at Isa Sports City in Bahrain.

After a shaky second set that last 30 minutes, the team led by Sam Cantada and Rhose Almendralejo regained their bearings and sealed the win in an hour and 47 minutes.

"I'm happy because we were able to achieve our win," said Rihanna Cris Navarro. "We really worked hard for it because our game was a knockout and we needed to rise to the top four to get the gold.” Asked about their chances of making it to the gold medal match, Navarro expressed confidence as they prepare to face unbeaten Iran.

"I'd rate it 10 out of 10, really 10, because we can really do this and we'll fight for it for the country."

In table tennis at the EWB, John Marin and Jannaj Alarcon swept Mongolia’s Turmunkh Dugersuren and Enkhjin Tuvshinbayar, 11-7, 12-10, 11-3, in the mixed doubles round of 64.

Marin fought hard in the boys’ singles before bowing to Man William of Hong Kong, 10-12, 9-11, 11-13. Emmanuel Paculba started strong but couldn’t sustain momentum against Iran’s Mobin Amiri, 11-5, 8-11, 12-14, 9-11. Jacob Quindo lost to China’s Tang Yiren in group play, 6-11, 4-11, 5-11.

Hong Kong’s Mak Ming overpowered Joanna Esguerra, 11-6, 11-5, 11-4, while Su Tsz Tung demolished Zuri Chua, 11-1, 11-3, 11-2. Singapore’s Loy Ming defeated Jannaj Alarcon, 11-3, 11-5, 11-2.

In taekwondo, Matt Rejhan Lavestre had a fine start but was stopped in the quarterfinals by Yevgeniy Vassenkin, 2-0, in the boys’ -55kg class. Lavestre earlier defeated Malaysia’s Muhammad Aidil Hakim Bin Mohd Azman, 2-0, and Bahrain’s Haji Yousuf, 2-0.

Chuck Aeron Alariao also exited in the quarterfinals of the -63kg class, 2-1, after beating UAE’s Marwan Mohamed, 2-1, in the Round of 16.

Pinar Lotfizadeh Gabalou of Iran beat the Philippines’ Ej Gaa, 2-0, in the girls’ -63kg quarterfinals.

At the Nasser bin Hamad Loop in Zallaq, Maria Louisse Crisselle Alejado clocked 18 minutes and 53.40 seconds in the girls’ Individual Time Trial. That was a minute and 47 seconds off the gold pace, with Kazakhstan’s Anel Tashbay winning in 17:06.05. China’s Xing Aofei took silver, 19.03 seconds behind, while Hong Kong’s Law Ching Kiu finished third, 34.36 seconds off the lead. TMT

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