Rondina, Pons key cogs for Nationals

The Philippines will shoot for a spot in the Asian Volleyball Confederation Continental Cup when it plunges into action today in beach volleyball competition of the 30th Southeast Asian Games at the Subic Tennis Court grounds.

Representing the country will be the pair of Sisi Rondina and Bernadeth Pons and the tandem of Dzi Gervacio and Dij Rodriguez in the women’s division.

Edmar Bonono and Jude Garcia, and the pair of Jaron Requinton and James Buytrago compete in the men’s side.

National team manager Charo Soriano said the team have been staying and training in Subic for a week now and is optimistic it can achieve its goal of a podium finish and possibly a berth to the AVC tilt in June next year.

“Our teams have been training twice a day so they can get used to the sand and lighting conditions,” she said.

The country eyes its first medal since the pair of Fil-Americans Heidi Ilustre and Diane Pascua snared a bronze in the 2005 edition held in Bacolod City.

The stakes have also become higher as the event will also serve as the Southeast Asian Zonal qualifying tournament to the AVC Continental Cup.

The eventual gold winner clinched a seat straight to the third round, while the silver medalist most on to the second round.

The Continental Cup champion earns an outright spot to the 2020 Tokyo Olympics.

“We are ready to compete and make the country proud,” Soriano said.

Schedules and pairings will be released after the technical meeting being held at press time.