Philippinesprinters dash to silver; beach volley advances to Last 8

SANYA, China – Team Philippines continued making waves in the sands as the women’s sprint team bagged a silver medal in beach athletics while the Alas Pilipinas beach volleyball squads both reached the quarterfinals with the country keeping its hold on third place overall yesterday in the 6th Asian Beach Games here.

Jessica Rose Laurance added a silver medal to her bronze won Saturday by teaming up with Shane Joy Ponce, Lianne Diana Pama, and Olympian Kristina Marie Knott as the quartet finished second in the 4x60 meter relay at Phoenix Island.

By noon yesterday, the official medal tally showed the Philippines in third place with three gold, two silver, and two bronze medals behind second-running Thailand with a 4-5-3 haul and host China which leads the pack with 13-11-4.

The Pinoy bets’ campaign in this resort city is supported by the Philippine Olympic Committee under President Abraham “Bambol” Tolentino and the Philippine Sports Commission helmed by chairman Patrick “Pato” Gregorio.

“It’s so different. There’s no baton. The exchange zone is three meters versus 30 meters. So, I think that was our only enemy in the race  – the zone,” Knott said.

It’s another taste of sweet victory for Laurance.

“It feels great. Honestly, I came here not knowing what to expect. I really just wanted to have fun and see what I could do on sand,” Laurance said.

“I’ve never run on sand and I really beat my expectations. So, I’m really happy.”

Over at the Tianya Haijiao Venue Cluster, Sunny Villapando and Grydelle Matibag clobbered Sri Lanka’s Shehani Ashanga Wattelage and Ktl Alawaththage, 21-15, 21-13 in their Round of 16 tiff.

The Phl pair will take on Japan’s Matsumoto Ren and Matsumoto Non today.