Foton seeks Final 4 stint in tough Asian volley

Foton Pilipinas is eyeing no less than a semifinal finish when it slugs it out with the best in the region in the AVC Asian Women’s Club Championship from Sept. 3 to 11 at the Alonte Sports Center in Biñan City.

Team manager Alvin Lu yesterday said that hopes are high on the Tornadoes, who vowed to go all out to surpass the seventh place finish posted by Petron in Vietnam last year.

Foton had already kicked off its preparation which will shift to a higher gear once imports Lindsay Stalzer and Ariel Usher arrive next month.

So far, showing up consistently in their twice-aweek training sessions are reinforcements Aby Maraño of F2 Logistics, Jen Reyes of Petron and Rachel Anne Daquis and Jovelyn Gonzaga of RC Cola-Army.

Foton stars Jaja Santiago, Angeli Araneta, Patty Orendain, Maika Ortiz, Ivy Perez and Rhea Dimaculangan are also training regularly, all determined to give other teams a very good fight.

Rounding up the pool are Bia General, Kara Acevedo, EJ Laure, Cherry Rondina and Carol Cerveza. Villet Ponce-de Leon will be the head coach with former national team skipper Ian Fernandez as assistant.

The team will be formally launched on July 22 at Crimson Hotel in Alabang.

“We want to have a strong finish, but at the same time we’re also tempering our expectations,” said Lu. “We have a strong and fighting team. Making it to the semis is our ultimate goal.”

Foton Pilipinas landed on a relatively light bracket in Group A together with Lien Viet Post Bank of Vietnam and the Hong Kong national team.

But the next round will be tougher with perennial contenders Taiwan Power of Chinese Taipei, Jakarta Electric PLN of Indonesia, April 25 of North Korea, Zhetysu Almaty of Kazakhstan, Sarmayeh Bank of Iran and a team from Malaysia expected to advance.

Reigning champion Bangkok Glass of Thailand has been tipped to dominate with seasoned international campaigners Pleumjit Thinkaow spearheading the squad powered by rising stars Sutadta Chuewulim, Pornpun Guedpard and Jarasporn Bundasak.

Same goes for last year’s bridesmaid Hisamitsu Springs of Japan, which will parade prolific spiker Miyu Nagaoka, Yuki Ishii and Kotoki Zayasu with powerful Montenegrin winger Tatjana Bokan at the helm.

“This is a very competitive field,” Lu said. “While advancing to the semifinals will be a great achievement, we will still keep on working to make it to the finals and win the crown. After all, we have the home court advantage. We will be playing with the crowd on our side.”