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Pinoys lose to Taiwanese

June 22, 2019, 12:00 AM

by Waylon Galvez

The national beach handball team came up short in its bid to make it to the next round as it suffered a 2-0 setback to Chinese Taipei in the last day of elimination round in the 2019 Asian Beach Handball Championship last Thursday in Weihai, China.

A day after scoring a thrilling 2-0 victory opposite Indonesia, the team of mentor Jana Franquelli was still in contention for a playoff berth, although the loss to a more experienced Taiwanese side ended the Filipino’ hopes to advance in the semifinal stage of the tournament. The national handball team posses for a photo opportunity prior to its game against Chinese Taipei in the 2019 Asian Beach Handball Championship in Weihai, China. (Courtesy of PH handball coach Jana Franquelli)

Chinese Taipei dominated the two 10-minute periods with scores of 26-16 in the first and 27-16 in the second, which gave the Philippines a 2-3 record through the elimination round.

The setback relegated the national team to the classification round for fifth to eighth, which Franquelli still considers an improvement considering this is their first time to compete in the Asian tournament.

“Our course we are very thankful to the exposure, for allowing us to play and compete against some of the best in Asia,” said Franquelli, whose team will face Thailand Saturday. “The players really gained something playing here.”

Franquelli said it was through the efforts of the Philippine Handball Federation headed by Steve Hontiveros and the Philippine Sports Commission (PSC) chaired by Butch Ramirez that they were able to compete in this event.

Aside from gaining experience, the female coach said they also saw the level and quality of opponents they’ll face in Vietnam, Indonesia and Thailand in this year’s Southeast Asian Games here.

The national team lost to Vietnam in a tight match last Tuesday, but defeated Indonesia last Wednesday, while Thailand is in the other bracket of the tournament in Group B.

“We’re able to experience playing in an international event because that’s what handball Philippines lacked as compared to Vietnam, Indonesia and Thailand. Every game we saw the improvement and potential of the team,” said Franquelli.

“We also saw the quality of opponents we’ll see in the SEA Games. I can say that we’re on the right track in terms of our preparation (for the SEA Games) and I’m happy with the team’s performance,” she added.