• Sepak Takraw

THE Philippine Sepak Takraw team is well equipped to shoot for glory in the 30th Southeast Asian Games the country is hosting from Nov. 30 to Dec. 11, 2019.

Following several training camps abroad and participation in prestigious international tournaments, the Filipino sepak takraw athletes are confident of delivering the goods in the biennial meet.

“I’d say that this is by far the most thorough, well planned and most funded campaign of our NSA (national sports association) in the recent years,” said Pilipinas Sepak Takraw Association, Inc. President Karen Tanchanco-Caballero.

“From the team composition, coaching staff, international training camps and foreign coaches plus several international exposure competitions, we have exhausted whatever support we can give to the PH Team to give them a strong fighting chance for golds in the SEA Games. Thanks for Philippine Sports Commission, Philippine Olympic Committee and private/corporate sponsors,” she added.

Right after their campaign in Arafura Games in Darwin, Australia, both the men’s and women’s squads set up camp in South Korea and Thailand for a few months before joining several leagues in Thailand to fine-tune their skills and get their competitive juices flowing.

“We went to train with several strong clubs in Thailand as part of our training camp and exposure (to actual tournaments). We also trained with Team Korea,” said Tanchanco-Caballero.

“We had a rigid training and periodization that started summer of this year with a month-long training camp in Korea. April to May. Then, we were back in Manila for the morning and afternoon training session of skills and strength and conditioning. The team then left for Chonburi, Thailand in a camp that lasted three months from August to early November,” added Tanchanco-Caballer.

Six golds are at stake in the SEA Games – 4 in men’s and 2 in women’s – with the Philippine team joining all of them.

Leading the charge for the Philippines in the quest for those golds are 2016 world champions and senior/seasoned athletes Jason Huerte, Rheyjey Ortouste, Mark Joseph Gonzales and Ronsted Gabayeron.

“The team is now back in the country and on to the last stretch of their daily training in Subic Gym, testing the actual competition venue for SEA Games. They will stay there all the way na until game time from Dec. 1 to 10,” the sepak tekraw chief said.

The Philippines placed fourth in the overall standings of the 2017 Kuala Lumpur SEA Games with two silvers and two bronzes to show. Thailand emerged as the overall champ with six golds and a silver.

Tanchanco-Caballero hopes it will be a different result this time around.

“We hope to be able to contribute sa overall medal haul and top medal standing of team PHI sa SEA Games. Halong saya, pressure, kaba at excitement to be able to bring this exciting sport at home and hopeful we will give our country, supporters and loved ones more reasons to be proud of us,” she concluded.PR