RP yields to Taiwan

MANILA, Philippines - The Philippines once again failed to sustain a good start and suffered a 25-22, 19-25, 15-25, 18-25 loss to Chinese Taipei last night as the host team failed to make it past the elimination round of the 15th Asian Senior Men’s Volleyball Championship at the Ninoy Aquino Stadium.

The Filipinos lost all three games in Pool A and were relegated to consolation round, playing the Vietnamese at 6 p.m. in the same venue today.

The Taiwanese shrugged off a faltering start and hurdled the Filipinos for second place in Pool A behind Kazakhstan in the elimination round of the tourney organized by the Philippine Volleyball Federation and sponsored by CNG Vehicles Corporation and Omnium Philippines.

The Taiwanese and the Kazakhs made the quarters along with the Koreans, the Aussies, the Japanese, the Indons, the Iranians and the Chinese.

Korea and Japan walloped separate rivals, gaining entry into the quarterfinals via sweeps in their respective pools.

The Koreans topped the Lebanese, 25-19, 24-17, 25-17, in Pool D while the Japanese turned back the Indonesians, 25-21, 25-21, 25-19, in Pool B.

Iran emerged as the top qualifier from Pool C following a 25-15, 25-17, 25-23 whipping of Hong Kong later.

With its win over Lebanon, Korea gave reigning champion Australia a free lift into the quarterfinals. The Aussies earlier closed out their elim stint with four wins against one defeat in Pool D.