Goma, Aussies beef up Phl team to Asian volley

MANILA, Philippines - A pair of Australian players, a popular showbiz personality and some of the country’s volley stars will headline the Philippine team vying in the first Asian Men’s Club Volleyball Championship from April 8-16 at the MOA Arena and Cuneta Astrodome in Pasay City. 

Aussies Cedric Legrand and William Robert Lewis will reinforce the Nationals to be backstopped by the 47-year-old movie celebrity Richard Gomez, who will serve his fourth tour of duty with the national team after competing as a national fencer, shooter and rower.

The rest of the PLDT Home TVolution-bankrolled team, coached by Francis Vicente, are JP Torres, Ronjay Galang, Jeffrey Malabanan, Alnakaran Abdilla, Jason Ramos and Rodolfo Labrador, all geared up to do battle in this field that drew participation from a record 18 countries, the biggest international volleyball tournament in the land in years.

Vicente said he hopes to recruit more players from the UAAP including National U’s Peter Torres, UAAP rookie MVP Mark Espejo and Rex Intal of Ateneo, Jay dela Cruz and Edmar Castro of Perpetual Help.

“Only the best and dedicated players will be chosen because we want to form a very competitive team for this tournament,” said Vicente in yesterday’s media launch at the newly opened NBA Cafe at SM Aura.

“We’re still holding tryouts and we hope to get more players from the UAAP and NCAA,” he added.

The PLDT Home TVolution team has been bracketed with Iraq, Kuwait and Mongolia in Group A and, barring major injuries to its players, is hoping to clinch the top two quarterfinal spots in their bracket.

The other brackets are Iran, Japan, Lebanon and Vietnam in Group B, Qatar, Kazakhstan, Oman, Hong Kong and Turkmenistan in in Group C and United Arab Emirates, India, Papua New Guinea and Chinese Taipei in Group D.

PLDT Home Fibr is also supporting the women’s PLDT Home TVolution squad and sending it to compete in the 2014 Asian Women’s Club Volleyball Championship in Nakhonpathom, Thailand set from April 17-25.

The team will be coached by Sammy Acaylar spearheaded by Angeli Tabaquiero, Michelle Datuin and reinforced by former Cuban star Regla Bell.

“PLDT Home Fibr is powering the first and biggest volleyball event in Phl history. We are also bringing world class sports entertainment to the homes of Filipino sports fans through TVolution,” said PLDT vice president and head of Home Broadband Gary Dujali.