RP finishes 21st, gold-less in 1st Asian Beach Games

MANILA, Philippines - The country pocketed the silver medal in men's three-on-three basketball at the close of the Asian Beach Games Sunday in Bali, Indonesia to emerge from the inaugural competitions without a gold medal. A taller, more aggressive team from India defeated the Nationals 23-17 in the final match that saw scoring hotshot Joseph Emmanuel Tolentino limited to only two points. Overall, the country finished with two silvers and eight bronzes to place 21st overall and total 10 medals, one of only seven nations which had at least that many. But six of the Philippines' Southeast Asian neighbors finished higher in the medal standings based on number of golds. Indonesia finished with a massive haul of 23-8-20 gold-silver bronze, followed by runner-up Thailand with a 10-17-10 harvest. Vietnam ranked eighth with a 2-5-3 count, followed by Myanmar (ninth, 2-3-0); Malaysia (10th, 2-2-6); Singapore (17th, 1-0-2). China (6-10-7), Korea (4-7-10) and Japan (3-3-3) finished third to fifth places respectively. Tiny Hong Kong was a surprise sixth with a 3-3-2 harvest. "This is a good showing for us. We did our best," Vincent Piccio said. "We look forward to the next Asian Beach Games in Oman where we intend to do better and win more medals," the RP delegation head added. - GMANews.TV