MANILA, Philippines — The Philippines took its first 20th Asian Games medal after the national women's soft tennis team claimed a bronze medal at the Nagoya City Higashiyama Park Tennis Center Sunday.
The Filipino netters suffered an 0-2 loss to the Japanese but claimed the bronze anyway as semifinalists.
Bien Zoleta, Princess Catinding, Christy Sanosa, Hilary Paas, and Shyryn Salazar thus gave the Philippines its first-ever soft tennis Asian Games medal since the sport made it debut at the 1994 edition of the meet in Hiroshima.
Zoleta and Catindig fell to Rena Temma and Kiho Miyamae, 4-0, 4-1, 4-2, 4-0, 4-1, and Sanosa yielded to Ayaka Iwakura, 4-0, 4-1, 4-2, 4-2, 4-0.
The Philippine team finished in top two of Group B for the semifinal entry and that guaranteed bronze medal finish.
The Philippines defeated Mongolia, 3-0, and Thailand, 2-1, before taking a 0-3 loss to Taiwan in the preliminaries.
