Khylem Progella (left) and Sofiah Pagara (right) get a pat on the back from national coach Joao Luciano Kioday after beating Tsolmon Batjargal and Khandsuren Gantogtokh of Mongolia, 21-3, 21-3, to stay perfect in the women’s beach volleyball event of the 20th Asian Games.
POC MEDIA POOL
It’s off to the Round of 16 for the two Alas Pilipinas bets in the Aichi-Nagoya Asian Games women’s beach volleyball competition.
In just 21 minutes, Khylem Progella and Sofiah Pagara dominated Mongolia’s Tsolmon Batjargal and Khandsuren Gantogtokh, 21-3, 21-3, to stay unscathed in Pool G on Wednesday at the Hekinan Ryokuchi Beach Court.
Throwing their weight around on the overmatched Mongolians, the Filipinas copped their second straight win in as many outings to secure a spot in the knockout round.
The duo, which also swept Maldives on Monday, will try to sweep the group stage and book a favorable pairing in the next phase against the also unbeaten Hong Kong tandem of Wing Tung To and Wing Man To on Saturday.
Also reserving a spot in the next round are the celebrated Alas pair of Sisi Rondina-Rosales and Bernadeth Pons.
The veteran duo didn’t even need to lift a finger to advance.
Kazakhstan’s Merey Kozhakhmet and Laura Kabulbekova crushed Bangladesh’s Most Lucky Khatun and Most Sabina Khatun, 21-6, 21-2, in their Pool E debut.
With only three squads in the group and the top two advancing after the pool stage, the Kazakhs gave the SiPons pair a free ride to the next phase.
The 2025 Southeast Asian Games gold medalists also made short work of the Bangladeshis last Sunday.
Alas and Kazakhstan dispute the top seeding in the group on Friday.
Meanwhile, the Alas Men tandem of James Buytrago and Ronniel Rosales weren’t as lucky after absorbing a 22-24, 15-21 loss to Vietnam’s Lam Toi Nguyen and Van Viet Tran.
The Filipinos failed to sustain the momentum of their opening-day win over Mongolia and slid to a 1-1 win-loss record in Pool C, tied with the Vietnamese.
Alas’ loss put them in a dangerous position, needing to win convincingly over the unbeaten Indonesian crew of Sofyan Rachman Efendi and Bintang Akbar on Sunday.
The Vietnamese have the luck of the pairing as they will close the group stage also on Sunday against a winless Mongolia side.
On the other hand, the other Alas partners Ranran Abdilla and Lerry Francisco fight for dear life at the close of their Pool A assignment against Oman’s Hood Al Jalaboubi and Mazin Al Hashimi today.
The Pinoy beach volleyball bets had a rough start, losing to experienced Qatari stars Cherif Samba and Ahmed Janko last Monday. MARK ESCARLOTE
