2 Cebuanos to play in Olympic beach volley qualification

CEBU, Philippines - Jade Becaldo and Edward Ybanez will try their luck to claim a spot in the Olympics as they play in the 2016 Rio de Janeiro Olympic Games Beach Volleyball Qualification Asian Sub Zonal Tournament on April 3 in Nong Kha, Thailand.

The two will push through their bid with or without their teammate Edmar Bonono, who is not sure to make it after agreeing to play with Cignal.

"Its not over, but it's going to be very hard. Without Edmar, the team will have to play 10 games in two days," said their coach Eric Licain.

Licain will bring two junior players from Manila though, to provide help from the two Cebuanos in their quest to make it to the Olympics.

Bonono for his part, has been given the go signal from Cignal to play in Thailand. Cignal's head coach Michael "Maki" Carino said that Bonono still have to train in Manila.

"Sino ba’ng ayaw na makapaglaro yung bata (Bonono) sa Olympic qualifying na yan? Para sa bayan, go ang Cignal diyan. Ako mismo,naglaro rin ako para sa bayan. Ang bata na yung nagdesisyon kasi kailangan din nyang isipin yung future nya. Pero meron namang win-win situation dito eh. Puwede siyang maglaro pra sa bayan at sa amin basta ‘wag nyang pabayaan ang practice nya sa amin din," said Carino.

      Licain still don't know what will be his next move be as he finds it difficult to have the team's training in Manila rather than in Cebu, but one thing is for sure, Becaldo and Ybanez is pushing through their Olympic dream. — (FREEMAN)