Fil-Am spikers to launch bid for ’08 Beijing

Assured of slots in the Doha Asiad this December, the Fil-Am team of Heidi Ilustre and Diane Pascua has set its sights on the 2008 Beijing Olympics as they compete in a beach volleyball event in Korea.

RP beach volley head coach Ottie Camangian said Ilustre and Pascua have already gained their spot in the Aug. 4-6 event, sanctioned by the world governing FIVB and tapped as part of a circuit where players can earn enough points to qualify for the world’s biggest sporting festival.

"They’re really serious in clinching a spot in the Olympics and represent the country there," said Camangian, who coached Pascua and Ilustre when the tandem snared a bronze medal in the 2005 Manila Southeast Asian Games, RP’s first ever medal in the sport.

Pascua, in fact, have filed an indefinite leave of absence from her teaching job in Santa Fe Christian School in San Diego, California and the Solana Beach Volleyball Club to focus on her training in preparation for the Doha Games.

Pascua and Ilustre will have a chance to play against some players from traditional beach volley powerhouses Brazil, Spain, the United States, Switzerland and Australia.

The event will also be participated in by teams from Austria, Belgium, Canada, China, Czech Republic, Denmark, England, France, Germany, Greece, Israel, Italy, Japan, the Netherlands, Norway, Portugal, Poland and Russia. — Joey Villar