For the first time in more than a decade, the Philippines makes its return to the Asian volleyball when the Home Tvolution competes in the Asian Men’s Volleyball Club Championship presented by PLDT Home Fibr simultaneously starting on Tuesday at Mall of Asia Arena and Cuneta Astrodome.
Bannered by actor-sportsman Richard Gomez, the Power Pinoys will face a club representative from Mongolia at 2 p.m. following the 12 noon opening ceremonies prepared by the Organizing Committee headed by former Philippine Sports Commission (PSC) chairman Philip Ella Juico in partnership with Sports Core and the Philippine Volleyball Federation (PVF).
Asian powerhouse squads, Duc Long Gia Lai of Vietnam and Zahraa Al Minaa of Lebanon, will close the day’s action starting at 4 p.m. at the newly-built Pasay venue.
At the nearby Cuneta Astrodome, Turkmekistan battles Al Rayyan of Qatar at 2 p.m., Kondensat-Zhaikmunay of Kazakhstan tangles with Green Dragon of Hong Kong at 4 p.m. and Amoa NCD of Papua New Guinea clashes with Chinese Taipei clash at 6 p.m.
Fresh from a short training stint in Korea, the Power Pinoys are tipped as a surprise package with Australian standouts Cedric Legrand and William Robert Lewis reinforcing the team, whose core is composed of JP Torres, Ron Jay Galang, Jeffrey Malabanan, Alnakran Abdilla, Gomez and team captain Ian Fernandez .
But national coach Francis Vicente isn’t taking other teams lightly.
“I’m fully aware that if we lose, we will have a slim chance in making it to the Top 8,” said Vicente during the pre-tournament press conference graced by Philippine Super Liga president Ramon Suzara, PVF president Carl Chan and secretary-general Ottie Camangian in Makati.
“We will try our best to win our games. It’s all about hard work.”
It wouldn’t be a cakewalk for the Philippines as the taller Mongolians are expected to give the host team a run for its money in this tournament backed by Mikasa, Healthway Medical, Maynilad, Gerflor Spurway, Senoh Equip.m.ent, STI, PSC, Makati Mayor Junjun Binay, Pasay City Mayor Antonino Calixto and MMDA Chairman Atty. Francis Tolentino.
“This match is very hard,” said Mongolia coach Arunbayar Munkbayar through an interpreter. “Our advantage is our height. Let’s see what will happen. We’ll give them a good fight.”
After Mongolia, the Philippines will take on South Gas Sports Club of Iraq at 2 p.m. tomorrow in Group A. Kuwait was also supposed to be bracketed with Mongolia, Iraq and the host country but withdrew from participation last week after it failed to get the nod of its federation.
All games by the Philippine Team, also known as the Power Pinoys or the PLDT HOME TVolution team, will be televised live on TV5, the official broadcast partner of the AMCC. The tournament also has Magic 89.9, Wave 89.1, Jam 88.3, Play 99.5 and KLite 103.5 as radio partners.
Source: http://www.interaksyon.com/interaktv/team-philippines-opens-asian-mens-volleyball-club-championship-vs-mongolia
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