Petron beach volley mulls Asian tourney

The annual Petron Ladies beach volleyball tournament hopes to go international.

Plans are afoot at giving the meet a foreign flavor as organizers behind the event are favoring the idea of pitting local teams against Asian counterparts.

"That’s a dream. It would entail a lot of resources but we really would like to make it to the Asian level and host it here first," said Tisha Abundo, the former sports commissioner and the lady behind the premiere women’s beach volleyball meet in the country.

Abundo came along with St. Francis players Ingrid Verayo and Marie Mycah Mariano and City College of Manila’s Diane Destajo during yesterday’s PSA Forum at the main function room of the Pantalan Restaurant in Manila.

They were later joined in the public sports program sponsored by Red Bull, Circure, Supermax, PAGCOR and Manila Mayor Lito Atienza by Manila Sports Council (MASCO) chairperson Ali Atienza, whose office is co-sponsoring the two-day tourney to be held at the Baywalk near the Manila Yacht Club for the very first time.

Atienza said a makeshift sandcourt will be put up near the Manila Yacht Club, complete with fences around it so that wayward volleyballs won’t go astray over Roxas Blvd. and Manila Bay.

The former national taekwondo player is also very supportive about the plans to bring in foreign participants for next year’s edition of the meet, even offering the Baywalk area as a possible playing site.

Abundo was quick to acknowledge the gesture and expressed hopes the weekend matches, also sponsored by Petron and also supported by the Philippine Charity Sweepstakes Office, PAGCOR, Toyota Pasong Tamo, Villa de Oro and ACSAT with Speedo as official outfitter and Mikasa as official ball, will be another success much like the first two legs held early this year.

A total of 20 lovely ladies from 10 teams are competing in the tourney offering cash prizes and a berth in the grand finals set in December.

The veteran pair of Patricia Siatan and Jennifer Bohawe won the first leg and automatically clinched a berth in the grand finals. So with second leg winner Michelle Laborte and Cecille Tabuena.

As the case last year, the 2005 Petron Ladies Beach Volleyball Tournament will gather all the season’s winners and their runners-up in a grand championship at the end of the year.