Isa Town, Bahrain, June 5, 2024- In-form Philippines pulled off hard-fought win against young Indonesia to next battle it out with Thailand, emerging triumphant in another encounter against Chinese Taipei, in the 9th-10th playoff of the 2024 AVC Challenge Cup for Men at the Isa Sports City Hall C here.
Contesting the Classification Round for 9th-12th places on Wednesday, Philippines, which succumbed to two straight-set losses to mighty China and hosts Bahrain in the first two days, sealed their first win following their dramatic 3-1 (25-23, 23-25, 25-14, 25-22) victory against Indonesia, while Thailand also made their mark after 3-0 (25-17, 25-15, 25-20) demolition of young Chinese Taipei.
In the first match, the Philippines, which lost in straight sets to Indonesia in the gold-medal match of the 2019 Southeast Asian Games on their home soil, performed well against the Indonesia’s future stars, whose age average is 18 years – the youngest opposite Nibras Fauzan coming in at 16 and the oldest middle blocker Yoku Mega Yuri Pradana and opposite Fauzan Rama Fazza at just 22.
Philippines, which finished 10th at the previous edition in Chinese Taipei last year, and the young Indonesians fought hard in the see-saw battle, which saw the former, led by hard-hitting Marck Jesus Espejo and middle blocker Kim Malabunga, take the hard-fought first set 25-23 and the latter regain their pride to claim the second set with the similar margin 25-23 to level it at 1-1.
However, the Philippines came out in full force in the third set, which turned out to be one-way traffic. Taking a narrow 16-14 lead, the Philippines showed no mercy to Indonesia, allowing the young rivals no more chance of fighting back against them to score nine points on the trot or the eventual 25-14 win in this comfortable set.
The fourth set was more competitive. The Philippines bounced back from trailing 8-10 to even it at 10-10 and went on their good show to lead with a two-point clear at 23-21. Jade Alex Disquitado fired a deadly attack to help the Philippines reach the match point at 24-21.
An erratic serve from Espejo saved another life for Indonesia. However, their delight did not last long as Angelo Nic Almendras hammered a powerful attack to completely end the young Indonesians’ challenge.
In the second match, Thailand, reigning champions and 7th place at the 2023 FIVB Challenger Cup in Qatar, went down to Kazakhstan in closely-contested five sets in Pool B that put them out of…
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