RP spikers test mettle of SEAG rivals

The national women’s volleyball team tunes up for the 23rd Southeast Asian Games as it competes in the Shakey’s Invitational Volleyball featuring SEAG top contender Thailand, Indonesia and Myanmar beginning Oct. 7 at the Rizal Memorial Coliseum.

The compact field will play a single round robin tournament with the team with the best win-loss record to be declared as champion, according to the organizing Philippine Volleyball Federation.

The three-day event, launched during yesterday’s PSA Forum at the main function room of the Pantalan Restaurant in Manila, serves as part of the RP team’s buildup for the biennial games slated Nov. 27-Dec. 5 here in Manila and three other satellite venues.

"This is a good exposure and training for our national team in its bid for the SEA Games, since some of our rivals in the region, including powerhouse Thailand will be competing," said Philippine Volleyball Federation (PVF) treasurer Ricky Palou in the public sports program sponsored by Red Bull, Circure, Supermax, Pagcor and Manila Mayor Lito Atienza.

Palou was joined in the session by Shakey’s general manager Vicente Gregorio, Jude Torcuato, Solar sports vice president for marketing, tournament director Tony Boy Liao, Jun Bernardino of event coordinator Sports Vision Management Group, Inc., national coach Ramil de Jesus and RP team members Michelle Carolino, Roxanne Pimentel and Cherry Rose Macatangay.

Shakey’s Pizza, in its continuing effort to help the national squad prepare for the SEAG and at the same time revive the popularity of the sport, has been on the forefront of women’s volleyball the last couple of years through its staging of the Shakey’s V-League where members of the RP team get to play against the top collegiate players in the land.

"We’re very honored to be a part of this special project," said Gregorio. "It’s actually a win-win situation for us since we get to assist the national team in its training and at the same time, be able to promote our product."

Solar Sports will telecast the games, according to SVMGI.

"We’ll be giving more exposure to this invitational tournament. Solar is setting aside 12 hours volleyball coverage to the viewing fans and maybe, we’ll even have a replay of it depending on the air time," said Torcuato, who also added that the sports channel may also air the tournament in other Solar TV affiliates such as Sports Plus and Jack TV.

Although Thailand remains the team to beat in the meet, the Filipina spikers hope to come up with a strong performance and further hone their talent and skills in time for the SEAG wars.

The Philippines used to dominate women’s volleyball in the SEA Games in the early 1980s and last reigned supreme in the 1993 edition of the regional meet in Singapore.

But the Thais caught up with the Pinay spikers when they beat them for the gold in the 1995 Chiang Mai Games before ruling the last three SEAG stagings.