The national men’s volleyball team seeks nothing but the gold medal in the 31st Southeast Asian Games happening in Hanoi, Vietnam starting next week.
PH team coach Dante Alinsunurin said they are ready for the battle that awaits them after coming off a training stint in Qatar.
“Maganda yung naging training namin sa Qatar kasi mas nakita namin na yun yung sistema na kailangan namin. Mas nakita namin kung ano yung kailangan namin for the SEAG,” said Alinsunurin during Wednesday’s send-off ceremony hosted by the Philippine National Volleyball Federation (PNVF) at the La Luna Café in Taguig City.
Eyes will be on the male spikers after their historic showing at the 2019 SEAG that the country hosted where they clinched the silver medal.
Alinsunurin said the pressure to deliver will always be there but they are more focused on working on their system to achieve their golden goal.
“Tinatrabaho naman namin yung goal namin noon pa. Siguro kung dati (before the 2019 SEAG) ang goal namin podium finish, ngayon naman gold na,” he said.
He was also not concerned about their grouping, where they are drawn together with bronze medalist Thailand and Cambodia.
Seven nations are participating in the said division with Group A composed of defending champion Indonesia, Vietnam, Malaysia and Myanmar.
Volleyball competitions will take place from May 13 to 22 at the 7,000-seater Quang Ninh Gymnasium in Quang Ninh Province.
The top two teams from each group after the round-robin preliminaries will advance to the crossover semifinals while the remaining teams will play in classification rounds for fifth to seventh places.
The Filipino spikers start their campaign against Cambodia on Day 1, followed by Thailand on Day 2.