Rondina, Pons lead Philippines' quest for beach volleyball Olympic slots

MANILA, Philippines — Against all odds, the Philippines shoots for Tokyo Olympic berths as it competes in the Asian Volleyball Confederation (AVC) Continental Cup semifinals set on Friday and Saturday in Nakhon Pathom, Thailand.

Sisi Rondina and Bernadeth Pons, part of the national team that snared two bronze medals in the 2019 Southeast Asian Games in Subic, will spearhead the women’s squad that is also composed of Dij Rodriguez, Babylove Barbon and reserves Mer Jauculan and Gen Eslapor.

Jaron Requinton, James Buytrago, Jude Garcia and Anthony Arbasto will comprise the men’s side with Ranran Abdilla and Philip Bagalay as alternates.

The team, accompanied by coaches Paul John Doloiras (women) and Rhovyl Verayo (men’s) and Philippine National Volleyball Federation (PNVF) board member and beach volley commission chair Charo Soriano, left the country Sunday.

The Filipinos would need to thread the proverbial eye of the needle though to make it to the quadrennial event set July 23 to August 8 as they must finish at least in the top two in their bracket to advance to the finals slated June 25-27 and then emerge as the No. 1 team.

The Nationals, whose campaign is bankrolled by the Philippine Sports Commission (PSC) and backed by Ilocos Norte Gov. Matthew Manotoc, are grouped with Japan, New Zealand and Sri Lanka in the women’s category, and Australia, Japan, Kazakhstan and Lebanon in the men’s class.