HISAMITSU TOUGH, BUT ‘DON’T COUNT US OUT YET,’ SAYS DAQUIS

UST-KAMENOGORSK, KAZAKHSTAN— Rachel Anne Daquis conceded the fact that everything will be uphill once the tournament starts, especially when Rebisco-PSL Manila goes up against former champion Hisamitsu Springs at the start of the Asian Women’s Club Championships Thursday here.

But she’s very clear they will put up a big fight.

“I know that we are the underdogs here against the best clubs, but the Philippines is known for its big fighting heart so please don’t count us out,” said the 29-year-old captain.

Rebisco PSL-Manila and 2002 champion Hisamitsu open tournament hostilities at 10:30 a.m. here (12:30 p.m. in Manila) at the famed Boris Alexandrov Sports Palace which now occupies a prime spot in the city center that used to serve as a vital station during the Cold War.

“We’d like to take this opportunity to have a great experience playing with top caliber teams and we’ll make sure we compete well,” added Daquis.

Southeast Asian Games team captain Mika Reyes was asked by team officials to join the press conference held at Shiny River Hotel “to observe and learn” from Daquis.

Head coach Francis Vicente told the international media they would use the experience for the Kuala Lumpur SEA Games in August.

“We are taller than Japan. But we need speed. And Japan has that; we should learn from the match,” said Vicente, who was also accompanied in the press conference by team manager Anna Tomas.

The all-Filipino team, made up of some of the best players in the country, trained all of Wednesday morning to work on their game plan.

“That’s what we are talking about earlier with Rachel,” said Reyes. “The team has solid camaraderie. There is no seniority. No superstars. Everybody is on the same level and communicates with one another.”

The Philippines will face Vientin Bank of Vietnam on Friday before rounding up its Group B games against Tianjin Bohai Bank of China on Saturday. In Group A are Taiwan Power of Chinese Taipei, Sarmayeh Bank of Iran, Supreme of Thailand and Altay of host Kazakhstan.