Both the men’s and women’s beach volleyball teams lost their chances to advance to the gold-medal round after suffering defeats at the hands of Thailand in the 31st Southeast Asian Games on Friday, May 19 at the Tuan Chau Beach, Quang Ninh in Vietnam.
The men’s team suffered a 2-1 loss against Thailand in their semifinal match with the pair of Jude Garcia and Krung Arbasto falling to J. Surin and N Banlue 20-22, 14-21 and 18-21, 18-21 while the duo of Ranran Abdilla and Jaron Requinton prevailed over T.Pithak, and T. Poravid, 21-19, 21-19.
On the distaff side, both pairs of Sisi Rondina and Bernadette Pons, and Jovelyn Gonzaga, and Dij Rodriguez got outclassed by their Thai counterparts in their final match in the single round robin group stage. Sisi and Rondina yielded to Naraphornrapat and Worapeeracchayakorn, 20-22, 15-21 while Gonzaga and Rodriguez succumbed to Radarong and Udomchavee 18-21, 15-21.
The Filipinas wound up the group stage with a 2-2 record enough to qualify for the bronze medal match against Vietnam at 11:20 a.m. on Friday, May 20. The men’s team, on the other hand, fell to the bronze medal match also against the host country at 10:45 a.m.
In the group stage, both teams won their matches against the Vietnamese with the women’s team winning by a 2-0 sweep while men’s grinding out a close 2-1 win.