Philippine water polo team bows to Indonesia

SINGAPORE – For the first three quarters of the match, national water polo team members were in a close battle against Indonesia at the start of the inaugural 2022 Singapore Water Polo Inter-Nation Cup Wednesday at the OCBC Aquatic Center here.

However, from a slim 7-8 deficit, the Filipinos went on to lose a 15-7 decision to Indonesia, the defending Southeast Asian (SEA) Games gold medalist, back in 2019, which the country hosted.

Philippine team coach Rey Galang said that while there were positive things that happened during the game, the lack of enough training and preparation due to the COVID-19 pandemic situation proved to be the main reason in the final 8-minute period of the game.

“It was a good game actually for us, well except for the final period,” said Galang, who got a solid defensive performance from veteran goalie Tani Gomez Jr. during the first three periods before the entire defense of the Philippines collapsed in the fourth frame.

It was 3-6 at the break in favor of Indonesia, but the Filipinos rallied back behind the offensive attacks of Roy Cañete, Mummar Alamara, Aljon Salonga and Paolo Serrano to close the gap at 7-8 entering the last period.

The national team’s poor defense, however, led to Indonesia scoring seven unanswered points in the final frame.

Since the start of the lockdown in March of 2020, the national team — silver medal winner in the last SEA Games — only returned to the swimming pool training sometime in March this year.

Prior to their departure for Singapore last Monday, the team only managed to practice using water polo balls and goals less than a week before the five-nation, six-day competition.

Nevertheless, according to Galang, the team will make the necessary adjustments, which he expects for a better performance when the Filipinos play Singapore B at 6:30 p.m. Thursday, May 19.

“The good thing about our first game is that we’re able to pinpoint where we need to improve on both ends. Important thing is our defensive set, so that's our focus,” said Galang, who is being assisted by former national team stalwart Dale Evangelista.

This is the first international event for the national team since it won the silver medal in the 2019 SEA Games – the first for water polo in 10 years. Aside from the Philippines, Indonesia and host Singapore, which will field in two, also seeing action in the tournament are Malaysia and Thailand.

The Philippine Sports Commission (PSC) led by its chairman Butch Ramirez, and the Philippine Swimming Inc. (PSI), headed by its president Lailani Velasco, made this trip possible for the national team.

The national team takes on Thailand on Friday, Singapore’s Team A on Saturday, and Malaysia on Sunday. The top three teams in this tournament after the single round will earn medals.