The Philippine National Volleyball Federation will call up the entire pool of the national beach volleyball teams as early as May 15.
This as the team is slated to compete in the 2018-20 AVC Continental Cup from June 20-27 in Nakhon Pathom, Thailand. This tournament is an Olympic Qualifying Tournament.
“For beach volleyball, they will start their bubble training next week in Ilocos Norte, in Pagudpud,” said federation president Tats Suzara.
A string of luck made the country qualify for the regional meet that has one ticket to Tokyo at stake.
Both women’s and men’s national teams placed third during the 2019 Southeast Asian Games, seeding them in the semis from June 20-22.
Thailand’s women’s team won gold in the SEA Games but as host was able to gain an outright berth in the Finals on June 25-27. Silver medalist Indonesia, on the other hand, will go up to the Finals as well as top seed for Southeast Asia.
For the men’s, Indonesia won gold while Thailand placed second. But with Thailand as host, they will join Indonesia in the Final.
The Philippines will have to go through the wringer in order to advance to the Final.
The women’s side will have to beat the likes of Japan, New Zealand, and Sri Lanka to advance to the final stage that has Australia, China, Kazakhstan, Thailand, Indonesia, and Vanuatu waiting.
The men’s side, on the other hand, has to outlast Australia, Japan, Kazakhstan, and Lebanon in the semis. Already in the final are China, Indonesia, Thailand, Iran, New Zealand, Oman, and Qatar.
Again, only one team from the semis will advance to the final stage.
According to national team commission head Tony Boy Liao, the Continental Cup will follow the same format as the 2019 SEA Games.
“The format is country vs. country. Meaning to say like what happened in the sea games, each country will have two teams, Team One and Team Two. Each country will play Team One versus Team Two of the other country. If there’s a tie, each country can nominate whoever players can play in the third match. That’s what they call the golden set. And also, this is single elimination,” he explained.
The pool for the women’s side is composed of Cherry Rondina, Bernadeth Pons, Dzi Gervacio, Dij Rodriguez, Babylove Barbon, Gen Eslapor, Mer Jauculan, and Abanse Negrense’s Jennifer Cosas, Alexa Polidario, and Erjane Magdato.
The men’s, on the other hand, has Jude Garcia, Jaron Requinton, James Buytrago, Ranran Abdilla, Anthony Arbasto, Philip Bagalay, Jade Becaldo, Calvin Sarte, James Pecaña, and AJ Pareja to choose from.
Head coach of the women’s team is Paul Jan Doloiras while Rhovyl Verayo is head coach for the men’s.
