Tag: tough

Alas women draw tough first FIVB assignment

On: By: admin


Alas Pilipinas during a VNL meet and greet at Mall of Asia Arena.–MARLO CUETO/INQUIRER.net

The popular Alas Pilipinas national women’s volleyball team returns to action next week, and right off the bat, the squad will be playing a do-or-die game against a formidable foe in Vietnam when the FIVB Challenger Cup gets off the ground at Ninoy Aquino Stadium.

After clinching a historic bronze medal in the AVC Challenge Cup for Women last month, the Filipinos will be battling Vietnam, needing no less than a win to progress in the tournament where the champion qualifies for next year’s Volleyball Nations League.

The team will be made up basically of the same personnel that finished third in the AVC save for the addition of pro star Jema Galanza and stalwarts of UAAP champion National University Bella Belen and Alyssa Solomon.

Jia de Guzman, hands-down the country’s best setter, and Angel Canino were the stars for the Philippines in that campaign as both bagged individual accolades.

Fifi Sharma, Thea Gagate, Sisi Rondina, Eya Laure, Faith Nisperos, Vanie Gandler, Dawn Macandili-Catindig, Julia Coronel, Jen Nierva, Dell Palomata, Cherry Nunag and Arah Panique are the other members of the squad.

Philippines vs Vietnam is set on July 5 at 6:30 p.m. after the Czech Republic-Argentina duel at 3. On July 4, Puerto Rico and Kenya open hostilities at 3 p.m. while Belgium and Sweden slug it out at 5 p.m.



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Delgaco knows tough task ahead in Paris

On: By: admin


PH rower Joanie Delgaco at the Asian Games in Hangzhou, China. –JUNE NAVARRO/INQUIRER

Rower Joanie Delgaco believes that winning a medal in the Paris Olympics is a formidable task. But that doesn’t mean she won’t try to.

“Every athlete wants to stand on the medal podium. I’ll certainly do my best and give myself a chance,’’ Delgaco told the Inquirer in Filipino.

Ranked No. 23 in the world, the 26-year-old from Iriga City is trying to improve her clocking in time for the qualifying heats of the women’s 2000-meter single sculls at National Olympic Nautical Stadium on July 27.

“If I’m not fortunate enough to medal, I’ll pursue my next goal of improving my world rankings,’’ said Delgaco, an Asian championships gold medalist.

Delgaco’s best time in the event is seven minutes and 39 seconds, good enough to get past the heats for a semifinal appearance.

Time to beat

A podium performance would mean clocking at least 7:19 in the finals where New Zealand’s Emma Twigg (7:13.97) is the defending champion.

“It would be a great accomplishment for me if I could row faster than my personal best in the Olympics,’’ said Delgaco, the first Filipino woman rower in the global quadrennial Summer Games.

Reaching the Olympics wasn’t only an achievement for Delgaco, who made the national training pool as an 18-year-old.

Making it to Paris erases all the pains of past failures to make the Olympics grade.

“This is my third attempt (to qualify for the Olympics) and I finally made it,’’ said Delgaco, who missed the Tokyo Olympic berth by one second and also had a failed bid for the 2016 edition in Rio De Janeiro.

She joined eight other Filipino Olympians who left Saturday for a monthlong training camp at La Moselle and Les Arenes in Metz, France, where she and the others enter the final stretch of their preparations. INQ



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