UST ALUMNA Sisi Rondina and five other Thomasian beach volleyball players flew early Monday to Thailand for the Asian Volleyball Confederation Continental Cup Semi-Finals, an Olympic qualifying event in Nakhon Pathom province from June 18 to 19.
Included in the line up with Rondina are UAAP beach volley MVPs Baby Love Barbon, Anthony Arbasto, Jaron Requinton and Tiger Sands standouts Mer Jauculan and Genesa Eslapor.
The pairing of Rondina and Bernadeth Pons for Team 1 and Barbon and Dij Rodriguez for Team 2 will compete against representatives from Japan and New Zealand while Jauculan and Eslapor are reserves.
Top two teams in the women’s division will advance to the final round.
In the men’s division, the duo of Requinton and James Buytrago for Team 1 and Arbasto and Jude Garcia for Team 2 will have matches against representatives from Japan, Kazakhstan, Lebanon and Australia.
Only one team from the men’s category will qualify for the finals.
Only the tournament’s champions will secure slots for the 2021 Tokyo Olympics on July 23 to Aug. 8.
According to Rondina, the athletes trained twice a day inside a bubble in Ilocos Norte, which UST and national beach volleyball coach Paul Jan Doloiras described as “tough yet enjoyable.”
The UST athletes along with other national team players trained in a bubble setup in Villa del Mar Ivory Beach Resort in Pagudpud, Ilocos Norte from May 19 to June 11.
“[One] year ‘yung pandemic, eh. Pero napakalaking bagay ‘yung training bubble kasi standard ‘yung buhangin, eh. Ang ganda ng environment. ‘Yung support ng local government nila napakaganda. ‘Yung mental toughness ng mga bata naging positive. Kaya excited na sila maglaro,” Doloiras told the Varsitarian.
The Continental Cup will be the first international competition for Philippine National Volleyball Federation (PNVF) since its establishment in January. Nina Angela Mikaela Cruz
