TEAM Philippines continues to arrive in Cambodia for the 32nd Southeast Asian Games, following in the footsteps of compatriots with earlier scheduled matches.
Some 128 members of the 840-strong Filipino contingent are set to board a Philippine Airlines flight to Phnom Penh flight today to join competitors in chess, football, cricket and hockey, who have already taken the field in Cambodia.
A further batch of 113 is embarking tomorrow with another group set to fly out the following day ahead of Friday’s opening ceremonies at the Cambodian capital.
The Philippine Olympic Committee (POC) said it has completed distribution of national team kit in time for departure. According to the POC, 1,200 sets of track suits, tech shirts, socks, backpacks, caps, shoes, towels, string bags, shorts and luggage were delivered to the national sports associations over the weekend.
The additional athletes join the Azkals Under-22 and indoor hockey teams, which are seeking to bounce back from opening losses.
The U22 Azkals, who lost 0-3 to Indonesia Saturday, gun for a crucial win against Cambodia tonight before an expected packed home crowd at the National Olympic Stadium. The Cambodians are coming off a 4-0 win over Timor Leste, a major confidence-booster ahead of their 7 p.m. duel with the Filipinos.
The men’s and women’s indoor hockey squads take on opponents from Malaysia today at the Dinosaur Park Hall. They both bowed to Thailand in yesterday’s opener, 8-0 in the women’s division and 14-0 in the men’s side.
Pinay cricketers also fell to Thailand in the curtain-raiser of the women’s T20 event at the AZ Group Cricket Oval.
The chess team experienced contrasting fates in ouk chaktrang or Cambodian chess at the Royal University of Phnom Penh.
Woman Grandmaster Janelle Frayna and WIM Shania Mae Mendoza defeated Thailand’s Sarocha Chuemsakul and Sirikan Sukpancharoen, 1-0, to stay unbeaten in women’s doubles 60-minute after three rounds.
But GMs Darwin Laylo, Eugene Torre and Joey Antonio lost to Vietnam’s Nam Thang Huang, Quoc Dung Tran and The Anh Duong in Round 1 of the men’s triples 60-minute competition. — Olmin Leyba
