Team Phl nears best ABG finish

SANYA, China — The Philippines slipped to fourth place overall Wednesday but is on track for its best finish in the Asian Beach Games (ABG) here.

At 1 p.m. Wednesday, the official medal tally of the 6th edition of the ABG showed Team Philippines at No. 4 with three gold, three silver, and two bronze medals with Iran surging to third with a 7-0-0 collection.

Thailand carries a 9-8-5 haul for second while host China leads all the 44 other countries with 21 gold, 14 silver, and eight bronze medals.

Gilas Women advanced to the gold medal match after beating Singapore, 20-13, in the 3x3 semifinals on Wednesday.

Unfortunately for the Filipinos, Gilas Pilipinas 3x3 men’s team just fell short as they dropped an 18-20 decision against Southeast Asian rival Thailand in the semifinals.

The Nationals battled back from a huge 13-19 deficit behind the efforts of Nic Cabañero inside the last three minutes but it came a little too late as the time ran out for Gilas.

The Filipinos actually threatened against the Thais, cutting the lead down to just two, 18-20. Gilas, however, came out dry in their last two possessions as the Thais advanced to the gold medal match.

Team Philippines’ drive in this resort city is supported by Philippine Olympic Committee President Abraham “Bambol” Tolentino and Philippine Sports Commission chairman Patrick “Pato” Gregorio.

With only the finals of handball slated, the closing ceremonies are scheduled Thursday with the hosting flag set to be turned over to the Philippines as it will host the 7th ABG in Cebu two years from now.

Before the return of the continental showpiece this year, the Philippines’ highest ranking in the ABG was in 2012 in Haiyang, China where the Pinoy bets wound up 11th overall with a pair of silver and bronze medals.

In sport climbing, coach John Aquino heaped praises on the national squad that saw John Forones break a Philippine record.

“We saw their hard work. We had three boot camps in Malaysia, Indonesia, and Thailand,” Aquino said after Forones finished his campaign along with Juan Miguel Azupardo in the men’s relay qualification at the Tianya Haijiao Venue Cluster.

“We were able to put up our own speed wall through the support of the PCI (Pilipinas Climbing) and the POC, and we were able to break a national record.”

Forones broke the 7.5 seconds record of Azupardo set in the 33rd Southeast Asian Games last December in Thailand with a time of 6.08 seconds in the men’s individual qualifying round for 28th overall Tuesday.

The wrestling delegation was unable to adapt to the sands as six bets missed out on medals in the 6th Asian Beach Games, dropping out in the preliminaries late Tuesday at the Sanya Bay Yuhai Club here.

Despite some rare bright spots with group stage wins courtesy of Abby Balisme and Joe Fer Callado in the women’s 60kg and men’s 70kg, respectively, it wasn’t enough to secure a spot in the quarterfinals.

Other bets, namely Aliah Gavalez, Fierre Afan, Neonards Cervantes, and Callum Roberts, were unable to eke out any victories in this seaport city, where they admitted that it was a new experience for the Nationals.