THE Philippine men’s beach volleyball team ended its Olympic bid after top-ranked Australia surfed its way through in the Asian Volleyball Confederation Continental Cup semifinals in Nakhon Pathom, Thailand, on Friday.
Christopher McHugh and Damien Schumann set the tone for an Aussie victory with a quick 21-11, 21-15 win over Jaron Requinton and James Buytrago in the first match.
Maximilian Guehrer and Zachery Schubert then won the second match via forfeit as Jude Garcia suffered cramps when he and Anthony Arbasto were trailing, 4-12, in the second set. The Aussies took the first set, 11-21.
The Aussies used their height and athleticism to the hilt for the straight-set romp.
They will face second seed Japan, which eliminated No. 3 Kazahkstan via a two-match sweep, for a spot in next week’s finals at 10 a.m. on Saturday.
The fourth-ranked Philippines defeated Lebanon, 2-1,in the first semifinals match.
Earlier on Friday, Garcia and Requinton swept Lebanon’s Paul Bou Aki and Joe El Azzi, 21-16, 21-17, in the golden match to keep the country’s hopes alive.
The Philippines and Lebanon split their first confrontation, thus sending the duel to a golden match or tie breaker.
Requinton subbed a cramping Arbasto and was fresh against the Lebanese, who are seeded one rung behind the Filipinos at No. 5 in these semifinals where the winner advances to the finals on June 24 in the same venue.
“The Lebanese just wouldn’t simply sink in the sand,” the 20-year-old Requinton said. “It was tough throughout the golden match—it was a fight for pride—but we showed Pinoy heart.”
Lebanon drew first blood with Chedid and El Azzi fashioning out a 21-19, 21-19 win over Requinton and James Buytrago.
But a cool and calculated tandem of Garcia and Arbasto didn’t let their guard down and rallied from a four-point deficit in the deciding set to beat Akl and Salba Chafix, 16-21, 21-18, 18-16, to force the golden match.
The Filipinos, backed by the Philippine Sports Commission and Philippine National Volleyball Federation (PNVF) partner Rebisco, will have their hands full when they face Australia later in the afternoon.
Japan eliminated Kazakhstan also on Friday— 21-15, 23-25, 15-10 and 19-21, 21-19, 18-16—to also stay in contention for an Olympic slot at home.
The winner here will qualify for the finals where defending champion Qatar and zonal titlists China (east), Indonesia (Southeast Asia), Iran (central), New Zealand (Oceania) and Oman (west) and host Thailand lie in waiting.
Only the No. 1 team of the finals will earn a ticket to Tokyo.