Pinoy spikers gain Round of 24

MANILA, Philippines - Jade Becaldo and Louijie Tipgos and the Edmar Bonono-Edward Ybanez pair held off their respective rivals to advance to the round of 24 in men’s beach volleyball in the fourth Asian Beach Games in Phuket, Thailand yesterday.

Becaldo and Tipgos bucked the scorching heat and beat the Sri Lanka duo of Sashima Yapa Hamillage and Sujeewa Weliweriya, 21-17, 11-21, 15-11, to finish second behind China in Pool G.

The Filipino pair also won over Indonesia, Oman and Turkmenistan but narrowly missed an automatic spot in the round of 16 after bowing to China the other day. Li Zhouxin and Zhang Lizeng seized the top seeding after defeating Becaldo and Tipgos, 21-15, 21-15, last Tuesday.

The top teams in each of the eight groups advance outright to the round of 16 while the second- and third-ranked teams face each other to earn a spot in the final 16.

“We try not to lose our focus. We somehow relaxed in the second set but came to win the match in the third,” said coach Eric Jason Le Cain, who trained the two national teams in Cebu. 

Bonono and Ybanez of Philippines B also advanced after downing Muhammad Razzaq and Mubashir Raza of Pakistan, 21-10, 22-20, at the sun-baked Karon Central Beach.

They prevailed in three of five matches but the heart-breaker against Hong Kong’s Chun Wai Wong and Kam Lung Chui last Sunday put Bonono and Ybanez at third place in Pool F.

Filipino muay fighters were also poised to figure in the medal round after middleweight Joel Zaspa and light welterweight Jonathan Polosan won their opening bouts at Patong Central Beach.

Polosan, silver medalist in the 2013 Myanmar Southeast Asian Games, pummeled India’s Harish with solid blows to the head and body, forcing the referee to stop the fight near the end of the first round and reward the Filipino a slot in the round of 16.

Zaspa, a promising find from Cebu, followed Polosan in the winners’ circle by scoring a second-round knockout over Kamlesh Dewangan of India to advance into the semifinals of the men’s 75kg class.