ALAS Pilipinas is set to put on a show anew for the local fans in the Asian Senior Beach Volleyball Championships that starts serving Wednesday in the City of Santa Rosa.
The Philippine National Volleyball Federation (PNVF) is again bringing top-notch action to the Nuvali Sand Courts, with Asian Volleyball Confederation (AVC) and FIVB-rated teams battling for top honors.
“Again, the Philippines and Nuvali become the epicenter of beach volleyball with some of the continent’s, if not the world’s best showcasing their elite skills before Filipino fans,” said Ramon “Tats” Suzara, president of both the AVC and PNVF.
Ran Abdilla and James Buytrago, who clinched the bronze medal in the Southeast Asian Games in Cambodia last year, team up anew in a bid to topple the fancied rivals from Asia and Oceania in the competition backed by Nuvali, Ayala Land, Rebisco, Smart, Philippine Sports Commission, Philippine Olympic Committee, City of Santa Rosa, Mikasa, Senoh, Asics, Akari, Sip, Cignal, One Sports, One Sports Plus, Pilipinas Live, AVC and the PNVF.
Iran’s Abbas Pourasgari and Alireza Aghajanighasab seek another top podium finish after their romp in the AVC Beach Tour Nuvali Open in April, while three tandems from Australia and two from New Zealand are in the 24-team field.
After earning silver with Buytrago in the 2024 FIVB Volleyball World Beach Pro Tour Futures in April and teaming up with Abdilla in the Futures tournament in China in September where they had a 1-2 record, Rancel Varga is again playing with a new partner this time.
Twice MVP in the University Athletic Association of the Philippines, Varga guns for a podium with Alas Pilipinas new guy Lerry John Francisco of the Philippine Coast Guard.
Twenty pairs have been seeded to the main draw, with four more spots to be disputed by 15 teams in the qualifying event. That field includes the third Philippine tandem of former Perpetual Help star Ronniel Rosales and former National University stalwart Edwin Tolentino.
Focus will also be on Khylem Progella and Sofiah Pagara, who made it to the quarterfinals of the 2024 FIVB Volleyball World Beach Pro Tour Futures Qingdao.
The former University of Santo Tomas teammates went 2-1 in the preliminaries including a three-set win over compatriots Gen Eslapor and Kly Orillaneda before falling in the last eight where they got swept by Japan’s Asami Shiba and Chika Nakagawa, who went on to bag the bronze medal.
Shiba will see action in the Asian Senior Championships in Santa Rosa with Saki Maruyama, while also back are Nuvali Open champions Stefanie Fejes and Jana Milutinovic of Australia.
Eslapor and Orillaneda went 1-2 in Qingdao, scoring a sweep over a young Argentine pair, and now the Air Force duo seeks to deliver in front of the home crowd.
The Army’s Alexa Polidario and the Coast Guard’s Jenny Gaviola, who also saw action at Nuvali in April, try to make a return as go through the qualifying tournament.
