Foton to play in Asian Women's Club Championship

MANILA, Philippines – Foton Pilipinas will represent the country in the Asian Volleyball Confederation's Asian Women's Club Championship the country will host from September 3 to 11 at the Alonte Sports Center in Binan, Laguna.

"We are announcing with great pride as it is the first time that Foton has been tasked to represent the country in this prestigious international volleyball competition," said Foton team manager Alvin Lu at Friday's media launch at the Crimson Hotel.

"Even as we are all excited and honored by being chosen to play here, we understand the big responsibility that Foton and Foton-Pilipinas has been given and we accept the challenge," he added.

Foton, which earned the right to compete in this week-long event after topping the Philippine Superliga Grand Prix late last year, have formed an 18-woman pool of 16 locals and two imports.

The Tornadoes' Jaja Santiago, Angeli Araneta, Patty Orendain, Ivy Perez, Bia General, Rhea Dimaculangan, Maika Ortiz and talented rookies Cherry Rondina, EJ Laure and Carol Cerveza will form the core of the squad.

Lu said they will be backstopped by the power-hitting tandem of PSL Grand Prix MVP Lindsay Stalzer and Ariel Usher, the same players who spearheaded the Tornadoes to the Grand Prix title by beating Petron in the finals.

Stalzer will fly in on August 13 while Usher is arriving three days later, giving Foton two weeks to practice with the team and familiarize with the local players.

Lu also tapped local reinforcements in F2 Logistics' Aby Marano, RC Cola-Army's Jovelyn Gonzaga and Rachel Ann Daquis and Petron's talented libero Jen Reyes to further strengthened the squad.

Lu said they will make the cut from 18 to 16 players on August 17.

"We have already conducted an initial team building for the remaining players and we were encouraged by what we saw as the four local reinforcements readily adjusted to the team and its style, and all are comfortable now with one another," said Lu.

Lu said the team is eyeing nothing less than a fifth place finish.

"We are still finalizing our decision though on our previous plan for the Bangkok training camp, but definitely, we see good chances of landing in the top five, which is our initial objective," he added.

Foton has been bracketed with Hong Kong, Lien Viet Post Bank of Vietnam and is expected to get into the next round where they will be playing the heavyweight teams including defending champion Bangkok Glass of Thailand, North Korea's April 25, Sarmayeh Bank of Iran, Hisamitsu Springs of Japan, Almaty of Kazakhstan, Bayi Army of China, and Jakarta Electric of Indonesia.

Other club teams seeing action are Malaysia, Bohai Bank of China and Taiwan Power of Chinese Taipei.

The Phl Superliga's Ramon "Tatz" Suzara and Philip Ella Juico were also in the presser.