PH, Malaysia vie for water polo silver

A loss by the Filipinos and a win by Singapore will relegate the former to a bronze-medal finish. #SEAGames #waterpolo

The Philippine men's water polo team. (Roman Prospero)

CAPAS CITY – The Philippine men’s water polo team won’t let this opportunity slip away.

Already assured of a bronze medal, the squad tries to duplicate its best finish in the Southeast Asian (SEA) Games in 2011 with a win tonight over Malaysia in the final day of the water polo competition here at the New Clark City Aquatics Center.

The Nationals and the Malaysians face off at 7 p.m. while dethroned champion Singapore, the team that could dislodge the host country for the silver medal, battles the virtual champion Indonesia at 5 p.m.

“We can’t be complacent. From start to final buzzer, we have to be focused,” said assistant coach Dale Evangelista yesterday after the team’s final practice.

“We beat them (Malaysians) before and we’re already assured of a medal. But we will try our best to win the silver. This is for the people who supported us from the start,” he added.

The squad is currently at second with four points (one win, two draws) while Singapore had three points.

The Philippines stunned Singapore, a perennial powerhouse in the region, with a 6-6 draw last Friday, and was actually poised to pull off an upset after taking a 5-2 lead but the Singaporeans made a late run to tie the score.

A loss by the Filipinos and a win by Singapore will relegate the former to a bronze-medal finish, something that veteran scorer Roy Canete won’t allow to happen.

“We have a big chance to win a silver and it will be history for us,” said Canete, who had three goals in the Philippines’ 7-4 demolition of Thailand.

The Philippines won the silver in the first three stagings of the biennial meet (2005, 2007, 2009) but missed the podium in the last three editions.