Photo by Julius Manicad JAKARTA, Indonesia — The Philippine women’s volleyball team finally landed here armed with a humble goal of making its presence felt in the 18th Asian Games.

After a two-week training in Japan, the squad checked in at the Athletes Village past noon Friday, two days before facing regional rival Thailand in the opening salvo of this prestigious quadrennial meet.

The last time the Philippines saw action in the women’s volleyball competition of the Asian Games was in 1982.

The Filipinas won the gold medal in the Southeast Asian Games in 1993 and emerged as a perennial podium-finisher together with rivals Thailand and Indonesia.

But after winning the bronze medal in the Manila SEA Games in 2005, darkness hounded Philippine volleyball as the country failed to send a women’s volleyball squad to the biennial regional tourney.

That spell was broken in 2015 when the Larong Volleyball sa Pilipinas, Inc. (LVPI) was assembled.

The federation immediately formed a team and revived the women’s volleyball program by competing in the Singapore SEA Games in 2015 and the Kuala Lumpur SEA Games in 2017.

This year, the team is reaching another milestone.

“Our players were not born yet the last time we played in the Asian Games. So making it here is already a major achievement for Philippine volleyball,” LVPI president Peter Cayco told Daily Tribune whose Asiad coverage is supported by Primehomes.

The team will skip the opening-day parade at the Gelora Bung Karno Stadium to focus on training for the opening salvo against regional rival Thailand on Sunday.

Then the squad will face Japan on Tuesday, Hong Kong on Thursday and Indonesia on Saturday.

Cayco said the goal is to make it to the quarterfinals.

Skipper Aby Marano is at the helm together with Jaja Santiago, Alyssa Valdez, Dawn Macandili, Kim Fajardo, Mika Reyes, Cha Cruz, Majoy Baron, Kianna Dy, Julia Morado, Maika Ortiz and the returning Dindin Manabat.

Shaq Delos Santos is the head coach with Kungfu Reyes and Brian Esquibel as assistants.