Last bronze medal para sa beach handball team

Subic Bay Freeport— Kinalawit ng Philippine men’s beach handball team ang huling bronze medal para sa Pilipinas sa pagtatapos ng 30th Southeast Asian Games.

Kinapos ang Phl men’s squad sa Thailand, 18-19, 16-21 kahapon sa converted Subic tennis court kaya lumanding sila sa third place.

“We are a young team, but I’m proud of what we have achieved,’’ saad ni handball head coach Janna Franquelli na binuo lang ang team noong nakaraang taon.

Nasungkit ng Vietnam, ranked No.3 sa world ang gold medal habang silver ang naiuwi ng Thailand.

Kumana agad ng dalawang sunod na panalo ang Pilipinas nang pagpagin nila ang Indonesia at Singapore pero hindi nila nakayanan ang tikas ng Vietnam at Thailand.

“The games were close. It showed that we need to build a taller team,’’ ani Franquelli, na pambato si 6-foot-5 Andrew Harris na nakapaglaro sa UP Maroons sa UAAP.

Ang ibang miyembro ng team ay sina Jacob Baccay, Mark Vincent Dubouzet, Jamael Pangandaman, John Michael Pasco, Rey Joshua Tabuzo, Josef Maximillian Valdez, Dhane Miguelle Varela, Daryoush Zandi at Manuel Lasangue Jr. “We tried to overcome the adversities, yet we came up short. But our team is really good and we feel blessed for the performance that we had in our first SEA Games,’’ hayag ni Harris.

Sa Subic galing ang unang dalawang medalya ng Pilipinas nang magawgi sina Triathletes John Chicano at Andrew Kim Remolino.