Blu Girls open World Cup Group Stage campaign vs Venezuela
MANILA, Philippines — The road to the 2028 Los Angeles Olympics for the Philippine Blu Girls begins Wednesday as they battle the Venezuelans at the start of the WBSC Women’s World Cup Group Stage in Lima, Peru.
The Cebuana Lhuillier-backed and Ana Santiago-coached Filipinas took the 18th and last seat in the three-bracket quadrennial event after receiving a wild card and will take the field at the Villa Maria del Triunfo Sports Complex at 1 p.m. (Philippine time).
Aside from Venezuela, the Philippines, which trained in Japan for several weeks for the meet, is bracketed at Group B with World No. 1 and defending World Cup champion Japan — which it would clash with Thursday — Puerto Rico, Great Britain and host Peru.
“Our players have worked tirelessly to prepare for this moment, and we are confident they will represent the Philippines with heart, discipline, and resilience,” said Amateur Softball Association of the Philippines president Jean Henri Lhuillier.
“Every game is an opportunity to showcase the growth of Philippine softball and demonstrate that our athletes can compete with the very best on the international stage,” he added.
The Nationals would need to place in the top two or hope to receive another wild card entry to punch a ticket to the World Cup finals set April 5-11 in Redcliffe, Queensland in Australia next year.
In Redcliffe, the winner books a spot straight to the LA Games, where it will join 11 other qualifiers including the host Americans.
There are also other routes for the Blu Girls if they win either one of the continental Asia-Oceania qualifiers and the Final Qualification event both next year or get lucky again via the host nation allocation.
But everything has to start in Lima for the Filipinas.
“We’ll do our best to make the country proud,” said Santiago.
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