Beach volleybelles resume medal quest

Alas Pilipinas tandem Sisi Rondina-Rosales and Bernadeth Pons and the duo of Khylem Progella and Sofiah Pagara face separate foes in the Aichi-Nagoya Asian Games women’s beach volleyball knockout Round of 16 Monday at the Hekinan Ryokuchi Beach Court.

Unbeaten Progella and Pagara troop to the sand court first against Hong Kong at 8 a.m. (Manila time).

The Rosales-Pons pair, on the other hand, battles the undefeated Japanese duo of Sakura Ito and Mayu Sawame at 9 a.m.

Progella and Pagara topped Pool G with a clean sweep of Hong Kong, Maldives and Mongolia. The pair have yet to drop a set in the competition.

The Alas tandem will try to capitalize on its momentum against a Hong Kong side which is coming off a sweeping loss to Thailand to close the group stage.

If Progella and Pagara hurdle Hong Kong, they will face in the quarterfinals the survivor between Japan’s Non Mastumoto and Ren Matsumoto and Kyrgyzstan’s Ogulai Kudaikulova and Roza Rasulbek Kyzy.

Rosales and Pons, meanwhile, are looking to bounce back from a three-set slip-up against Kazakhstan to end their Pool E campaign.

Meanwhile, Philippine National Volleyball Federation president Frank Lao pledged a P100,000 gold medal incentive for each player.

While Alas Women got all pairs into the next phase, the Filipinos bombed out in the men’s division.

James Buytrago and Ronniel Rosales were denied a spot in the Round of 16 after an 11-21, 13-21, loss to Indonesia’s Sofyan Efendi and Bintang Akbar on Sunday.

Buytrago and Rosales ended their Pool C campaign with a 1-2 slate, joining Ranran Abdilla and Lerry Francisco in the group stage exit.