Heartbreak of
a loss for RP water polo squad
Games Today
4 p.m. -- Vietnam vs Malaysia
5:15 p.m.-- Singapore vs Indonesia
6:30 p.m. -- Thailand vs Philippines
STANDINGS
Singapore 2-0, Philippines 1-1, Thailand 1-1, Vietnam 1-1, Malaysia
1-1, Indonesia 0-2
LOS BAÑOS, Laguna Buoyed up by its opening day win over Indonesia
the day before, the Philippines pushed defending champion Singapore
to the limit before absorbing a heartbreaking 6-7 defeat in water
polo action Tuesday at the Trace Aquatics Center here.
It took a conversion by Terence Tan in the final 1:30 to decide the
outcome of the close contest which saw the Filipinos holding their
opponents to a see-saw battle, and matching the Singaporeans'
intensity in both offense and defense.
The game entered the final one and a half minute with the scored
knotted at 6-all following a penalty goal by Monsuito
Pelenio.
This maybe the year for Philippine water polo.We gave Singapore
hell in the pool today. It was neck and neck, but clearly this is
the first time we've matched Singapore pass for pass, block for
block, and goal for goal. We've never come this close, said PASA
president Mark Joseph.
Tan finished with 3 points, including 2 in the final frame to lead
Singapore to its second win in as many games.
Pelenio, Sherwin dela Paz, Ricardo Dilapdilap, Michael Jorolan, and
brothers Norton and Frazier Alamara each had a goal for the
Philippines.
Earlier, Malaysia downed Thailand, 7-4, while Vietnam edged
Indonesia , 13-12. The results created a 4-way log-jam for the
second spot among Malaysia, Thailand, Vietnam, and the
Philippines.
The Malaysians rebounded from a 21-3 whipping it took from the
Singaporeans in their opening assignment, while the Thais failed to
follow up their 7-5 conquest of the Vietnamese.
Vietnam bounced back from its heartbreaking loss to Thailand the
other day by edging out Indonesia , 13-12, in the first game.
The Vietnamese try to make it two in row when they meet Malaysia in
Wednesday's tripleheader opener. Indonesia on the other hand will
be hard-pressed to win against defending champion Singapore in
their 5:15 p.m. encounter to avoid early elimination.
Tournament format calls for teams to play each other in a single
round robin with the team that ends up with most wins capturing the
gold. (GL)
http://2005seagames.com.ph/news/latestnews6.html
After a very convincing 21-3 hammering of MY, getting pushed all
the way by the home team leads us to ponder: Have our neighbour's
standard improved dramatically? Or has ours dropped?
