Alas beach volleyball teams put weight on Thailand SEA Games bid

THE Alas Pilipinas national beach volleyball teams led by the celebrated pair of Sisi Rondina and Bernadeth Pons has thrown everything out the window to focus on the 33rd Southeast Asian Games Thailand is hosting in December.

And the experience they gained from competing against some of the world’s best in the Volleyball World Beach Pro Tour Challenge comes in handy in the SEA Games beach volleyball competitions set December 12 to 19 at the Huamark Sports Complex in Bangkok.

“We’re all happy that we were able to participate in the Challenge, although it was a short campaign for us, we learned a lot from every match that we can apply in SEA Games,” said Pons, who with Rondina became the first-ever Philippine pair—men or women—to win a match in the Challenge and reach the round of 24.

“We must continue training hard, we must be consistent in our timing, attacks, receives and blocking,” Pons said. “’Good thing we were able to play against competitive teams in the Challenge.”

Alas Pilipinas’s Brazilian head coach Joao “Kioday” Luciano Simao Barbosa said the candidate teams to the Thailand SEA Games include Sunny Villapando and Dij Rodriguez, Jenny Gaviola and Alexa Polidario and Kly Orillaneda and Gen Eslapor for the women’s squad.

The men candidates are Cambodia 2023 Southeast Asian Games bronze medalists James Buytrago and Ran Abdilla, Ronniel Rosales and Rancel Vergara and Edwin Tolentino and Larry John Francisco.

Each country is allowed two teams in the Thailand SEA Games.

According to Alas Pilipinas beach volleyball team manager Cherry Macatangay, all six pairs will be corralled in the Nuvali Sand Courts by Ayala Land in Santa Rosa City to fully concentrate on the games that are 55 days away.

We’re ready anytime if chosen for the SEA Games,” Gaviola said. “We’ll determine what adjustments to make.”

Thailand and Indonesia are the dominant force in SEA Games beach volleyball with eight gold medals each in the women and men categories, respectively.

The Philippines, on the other hand, has six bronze medals—three in each gender—since the discipline became a medal sport in 2003.