Crowd support will be RP spikers' driving force in Asian volley tilt

Support coming from the local crowd will be the RP men’s volleyball team’s driving force as they play Myanmar in one of six opening matches on Saturday in the 15th Asian Men’s Seniors Volleyball Championship in two separate venues. Gametime is at 7 p.m. at the Ninoy Aquino Stadium with the nationals hoping to score a win that will firm up its bid of advancing into the quarterfinals.

“This is only our first international tournament since we formed the team last June. We’ve been practicing hard and with the crowd support, I believe the players can perform well," said RP team coach Sammy Acaylar. A total of 18 teams are seeing action and are spread in four groups with Philippines along with Myanmar, Chinese Taipei and Kazakhstan bracketed in Group A. Japan, Thailand, India and Indonesia forms Group B; China, Iran, Hong Kong, Vietnam and Sri Lanka are in Group C and defending champion Australia, Korea, Lebanon, Qatar and Maldives are in Group D. It’s important for the host team to win its opening game since only the top two teams after the single round robin in each group advance into the quarterfinals. “We don’t have any idea on how Myanmar plays," admits assistant coach Edgar Barroga. “But we have trained very hard and we are prepared for any surprises from them." The members of the RP men’s national volleyball team are 6-foot-1 Dante Alinsunurin, 6-foot-1 Reny John Balse, 6-foot-1 Clarence Esteban, 6-foot-5 Sylvester Honrade, 6-foot-3 Nino Jeruz, 5-foot-9 Michael Carino, 6-foot-1 Edjet Mabbayad, 6-foot-1 Jeffrey Malabanan, 6-foot Christian Fernandez, 5-foot-9 Raffy Mosuela, 6-foot-3 Chris Macasaet, 5-foot-10, Jessie Lopez, 6-foot-2 Edcer Penetrante and 6-foot Mark Lee. After Myanmar, the Philippines will next face Kazakhstan at 2 p.m. on Monday and will end round robin play against Chinese Taipei on Wednesday at 6 p.m. Other games scheduled Saturday at the Ninoy Aquino Stadium are Sri Lanka against Hong Kong at 12 noon, Maldives over Korea at 2 p.m. and China against Vietnam at 4 p.m. India plays Indonesia at 2 p.m. and defending champion Australia meets Lebanon at 4 p.m. over at the San Andres Gym. – GMANews.TV