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

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

But the young tandem of Progella and Matibag, who are part of the national team’s first beach volleyball appearance in Asia since 2006, are still guaranteed a spot in the Round of 16, where four of the groups of five teams will compete.

Before falling to a 1-1 record, the pair made their debut with a 17-21, 23-21, 15-13 victory over Hong Kong’s Wong Man Ching and To Wing Tung on Tuesday.

Progella and Matibag look for their second victory against Tam Kin Teng and Lei Keng Lai from Macau on Thursday.

Meanwhile, Dij Rodriguez and General Eslapor split their Pool A assignments, losing to China before returning against Kazakhstan.

Rodriguez, the only remnant of 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 veteran Filipino duo got their act together in their evening match and vented their anger on Laura Kabulbekova and Nadezhda Ivanchenko of Kazakhstan, 21-11, 21-14.

Rodriguez and Eslapor are also heading to 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 ends its group campaign on Friday against Deepika Bandara Madagedara and Chathurika Madushan Kumbure Gedara of Sri Lanka.

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

Buytrago and Garcia dropped their first match in Pool A and had to beat Sajid Ismail and Adam Naseem from the Maldives on Thursday to qualify for the round of 16.

Jaron Requinton and Ranran Abdilla also dropped their first match on Tuesday, losing to Indonesians Danangsyah Pribadi and Sofyan Efendi 12-21, 18-21.

Requinton and Abdilla will also try to stay in the fight against Cherif Younousse and Ahmed Tijan from Qatar on Thursday.