MANILA, Philippines — THE Philippine women’s sprint team captured the silver medal in the 4x60-meter relay in the 6th Asian Beach Games Sunday at Phoenix Island in Sanya, China.
Buoyed by her bronze-medal triumph in the women’s 60-meter dash Saturday, Laurance teamed up with Shane Joy Ponce, Lianne Diana Pama, and Olympian Kristina Marie Knott to lead Team Philippines to another podium finish in this resort city.
The Pinay quartet clocked 29.73 seconds, finishing just milliseconds behind Thailand, which bagged the gold medal in 29.46 seconds. Host nation China settled for bronze with a time of 30.42 seconds.
Supported by Philippine Olympic Committee President Abraham “Bambol” Tolentino and Philippine Sports Commission chairman Patrick “Pato” Gregorio, the silver-medal effort added to the country’s medal tally of three gold, two silver, and two bronze medals.
“It's so different. There's no baton. The exchange zone is three meters versus 30 meters. So, I think that was our only enemy in the race was the zone,” Knott said.
It’s double the joy for Laurance.
“It feels great. Honestly, I came here not knowing what to expect. I really just wanted to have fun and see what I could do on sand,” Laurance said.
“I’ve never run on sand and I really beat my expectations. So, I'm really happy.”
The country’s surge in beach athletics began with Leonard Grospe, who copped the Philippines’ second mint Friday after topping the men’s high jump event at the start of the competition.
Mariel Abuan fell short of a podium finish in the women’s high jump, placing sixth after clearing 1.60 meters.
Meanwhile, the Philippine women doubles teqball team failed to advance to the next round after a tough winless run in the preliminaries Saturday at the Sanya Bay Yuhai Club.
The Filipina duo of Crystal Cariño and Joellene Cruz suffered back-to-back straight-set losses, bowing to Iraq, 3-12, 7-13, followed by host China, 1-12, 5-12.
They also fell 4-12, 3-12 to a formidable Myanmar squad, the reigning silver medalists in the last Southeast Asian Games, and South Korea 4-12, 5-12.
The Philippines looks to bounce back in the men’s doubles as they gear up to face Lebanon and Laos.
The country’s mixed doubles team faces a big test against powerhouse China and Cambodia Sunday. TMT
