PH beach volleyball teams show promising performances in Aussie tourney
The Philippine beach volleyball team showing their medals during the awarding ceremony of the 2022 Australia Beach Volleyball Tour Championships in Brisbane last Sunday. | Photo from Gonzaga’s Instagram Page
CEBU CITY, Philippines —The Philippine beach volleyball teams showcased promising performances after hauling in two gold medals in the 2022 Australia Beach Volleyball Tour Championships in Brisbane, Australia, last Sunday, March 27, 2022.
The team also bagged one silver medal and two bronzes in the tournament.
Bionic Ilongga Jovelyn Gonzaga and partner Dij Rodriguez found an instant chemistry in their first tandem on the sand after they beat Aussies Alice Zeimann and Anna Donlan in three sets, 18-21, 21-19, 15-13, to rule the women’s challenger division I.
More impressively, Gonzaga and Rodriguez won all their five matches en-route to winning the title in the three-day top-tier domestic beach volleyball tournament on the Australian volleyball calendar.
Joining them in the gold medal haul was the pair of Ranran Abdilla and Jaron Requinton who topped the men’s challenger division I. They bested the local team of Issa Batrane and Frederick Bialokoz in two sets, 22-20 and 21-17.
Like Gonzaga and Rodriguez, the tandem of Abdilla and Requinton logged an unbeaten run of five wins to showcase promising performances heading to the 31st Southeast Asian Games in Hanoi, Vietnam this May.
Meanwhile, Cebuana ace volleybelle Cherry “Sisi” Rondina and her partner Bernadeth Pons earned the silver medal after bowing down to home bets Nikki Laird and Phoebe Bell, 18-21, 12-21, in the final of the Women’s Elite group.
First-time pair Nene Bautista and Gen Eslapor grabbed the bronze medal after beating Saskia De Haan and Lisa-marie Moegle in the Women’s Challenger Division I, after two sets, 21-13, 21-19.
Pemie Bagalay and James Buytrago also took a bronze in the Men’s Challenger Division I with a 21-17, 21-12 win over Thomas Heptinstall and Jed Walker.
The sixth Philippine pair, Jude Garcia and Krung Arbasto, reached the Men’s Challenger Division I quarterfinals.
The teams will remain in Brisbane to continue their one-month training program for the upcoming 31st SEA Games, hoping to improve their double bronze medal win in the 2019 edition held in Manila.
During the 2019 SEA Games, Pons and Rondina settled for bronze after losing to Thailand in the women’s division while Edmar Bonono and Jude Garcia lost to Indonesia in the men’s division.
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