RP drops volleyball opener to Myanmar

MANILA, Philippines - The Philippines failed to sustain the momentum of a good start, faltering in the closing sets as it suffered a five-set loss to Myanmar at the start of the 15th Asian Senior Men’s Volleyball Championship at the San Andres Gym in Manila yesterday.

The Filipinos squandered one-set-to-nil and two-set-to-one leads in a 25-21, 21-25, 25-19, 22-25, 15-17 heartbreaker versus the Myanmar side.

The host team put up a gutsy stand only to taper off in the sets that mattered the most.

Meanwhile, the formidable Korean and Chinese teams buckled down to work right away as the week-long event finally got under way.

Korea, a four-time champion, thumped Maldives, 25-11, 25-13, 25-12, while China, a three-time winner, drubbed Vietnam, 25-14, 25-23, 25-14.

Sri Lanka and Indonesia were also off to a victorious start in the tourney postponed by Tropical Storm Ondoy Saturday.

Indonesia shrugged off a tentative start and hacked out a 13-25, 25-22, 25-23, 25-16 win over India while Sri Lanka put up a splendid showing as it walloped Hong Kong, 25-20, 25-16, 25-18.

The Burmese, the Koreans, the Chinese, the Indons and the Sri Lankans gained the early lead in their respective groups in the elimination play of the 18-nation event organized by the Philippine Volleyball Federation and sponsored by CNG Vehicles Corp. and Omnium Philippines.

Games were supposed to be played at the San Andres Gym and the Ninoy Aquino Stadium. Only the former is playable at the moment as the flooring at the latter was damaged by the flood Saturday.

Dong-Jin Kang and Kim Yo-Han starred for the Koreans as they came through with awesome performances, powering the team to a straight-set demolition of the Maldives side in their Group D contest.

The Koreans are fancied to figure prominently in the race for the championship being the winners of the event in 1989, 1993, 2001 and 2003.