Vellum team umarangkada

The absence or lack of funds will not stop beach volleyball beauties Heidi Ilustre and Diane Pascua from pursuing their dreams of making it to the 2008 Beijing Olympics.

Ilustre and Pascua, a pair of 5-foot-10 Fil-Americans, arrived in the country last Saturday for a brief stay. They left for Singapore yesterday for an Olympic qualifying tournament set May 23 to 27.

The Singapore joust is the second of 18 qualifying tournaments while the third is set in Korea on May 29 to June 4. Ilustre and Pascua missed the opening leg in China earlier this month.

The RP bets, who generated some following when they won the bronze medal in the 2005 Manila Southeast Asian Games, are having difficulty raising the funds to fuel their Olympic drive.

They left for Singapore through the help of some private individuals led by Tony Boy Liao.

Liao said Ilustre and Pascua will try to compete in as many legs as possible. There are only three legs scheduled in Asia, and the rest will be staged mostly in Europe where it will be more expensive.

Granting that a pair competes in all 18 legs, only their top eight finishes will count. Based on a point system, the top 24 teams in the men’s and women’s divisions will make it to the Olympics.

“The Philippine Volleyball Federation (the national sports association) does not have the money to fund their campaign,” said Liao, no longer with the PVF but is a member of the Asian Volleyball Confederation board.

Liao said he recently spoke with Philippine Sports Commission chairman Butch Ramirez, and was only promised reimbursement of the plane tickets for the two beach volley players.

Pete Mendoza, president of the PVF, recognized the help being done by Sports Vision, but rued the fact that they are being kept out of the picture as far as the beach volley scene is concerned.