Alas eyes decent finish

Alas Pilipinas begins its quest to salvage some measure of pride in the classification round of the Aichi-Nagoya Asian Games women’s volleyball competition against Qatar on Sunday at the Okazaki Central Park General Gymnasium.

Denied a podium finish after a winless pool stage, the Philippines aims to finish ninth, starting with a match against the Qataris at 6 p.m. (Manila time).

The Filipinas were shown the exit door in the quarterfinal race after suffering back-to-back losses to defending champion China and Kazakhstan in Pool B.

A win by Alas will send the squad into the next phase of the classification round. The Philippines needs to win three straight matches to claim ninth for a decent finish in the team’s return to the quadrennial sports meet after skipping the pandemic-delayed Hangzhou edition three years ago.

“We want, as much as possible, to win three games in a row. But we’ll take it one game at a time,” Alas captain and main setter Jia Morado-de Guzman said.

Angel Canino has been a revelation for Alas in her Asiad debut.

The De La Salle University ace has been showing consistency and efficiency, averaging 19 points per game. The winger dropped 24 in a four-set loss to the Kazakhs last Thursday.

Japanese mentor Taka Minowa is also pinning his hopes on Alyssa Solomon, Eya Laure, Thea Gagate, Dell Palomata, libero Justine Jazareno and backup playmaker Mars Alba. Bella Belen and Shaina Nitura need to step up big time after quiet outings in the first two games.

A loss by Alas, which finished eighth in the 2018 Jakarta-Palembang edition, will relegate the team to the battle for 13th on Tuesday.

Qatar wrapped up Pool D play winless in three games and has yet to win a set in the competition.

The winner of the Alas-Qatar clash will face Mongolia, which, along with Hong Kong, has drawn a bye.

Nepal and Kyrgyzstan battle at 3 p.m. in the other classification opener.