THE JAPANESE pair of Satono Ishitsubo and Asami Shiba emerged as the women’s champion in the just-concluded FIVB Beach Volleyball World Tour Boracay Open.
Collided with compatriots Sakurako Fujii and Minori Kumada in an all-Japan final, Misses Ishitsubo and Shiba showed their class with a dominant 21-14 and 21-18 victory at the White House Beach Station 1 of the island on Sunday.
On their way to the finals victory, Misses Ishitsubo and Shiba showed their superior skills on offense and defense that made them No. 86 in the world.
Prior to it, the Japanese pair swept Brittany Kendall and Stefanie Weiler of Australia, 21-16 and 21-17, in the semifinals.
Misses Kendall and Weiler, however, managed to salvage a third-place finish by defeating Tjasa Jancar and Tjasa Kotnik of Slovenia.
The Philippines, for its part, matched its fifth-place finish in the Manila Open last year behind Sisi Rondina and Bernadeth Pons.
Narongdet Kangkon and Banlue Nakprakhong of Thailand, meanwhile, took the men’s gold by topping Japanese qualifier Yuya Ageba and Nobuaki Taira, 19-21, 22-20 and 15-8.
The Philippine leg of the FIVB Beach Volleyball World Tour was once again hosted by Beach Volleyball Republic (BVR).
It something BVR hopes to continue doing, seeing it as in line with the group’s thrust of promoting and furthering the development of beach volleyball in the country and a platform for local athletes to raise their game and showcase what they can do.
“We’re looking at this FIVB Beach Volleyball World Tour as a long-term project. We want to annually be able to hold this big tournament here which is not only an opportunity for our beach volleyball aficionados but for the international community to take notice of the Philippines’ potential as a beach volleyball hub,” said BVR co-founder Bea Tan, whose group has been pushing for beach volleyball growth through BVR since 2016. — Michael Angelo S. Murillo
