Khylem Progella and Grydelle Matibag joined the other Filipina tandem of Dij Rodriguez and Gene Eslapor in the Round of 16 after notching their second win in the 19th Asian Games women’s beach volleyball competition Thursday at the Ningbo Banbianshan Beach Volleyball Centre.
The young pair outclassed Kin Teng Tam and Keng Lai Lei of Macau, 21-18, 21-15, in Pool B for a 2-1 win-loss record with just one more preliminary round playdate to go.
Their victory came a day after suffering a straight sets setback to Indonesia’s Dhita Juliana and Desi Ratsanari, 14-21, 10-21, on Wednesday.
The Filipina pair climbed to third spot in the pool, moving on to the Round of 16 along with Indonesia and Thailand.
Progella and Matibag will wrap up their prelims campaign against the favored Thai duo of Taravadee Naraphornrapat and Kongphopsarutawadee on Friday.
Meanwhile, Rodriguez and Eslapor prevailed over Kazakhstan’s Laura Kabulbekova and Nadezhda Ivanchenko, 21-11, 21-14, in Pool A on Wednesday night to secure a spot in the knockout stage.
The tandem vented its ire on the stunned erstwhile unbeaten Kazakhs in a 33-minute encounter to bounce back from a whipping they received from the fancied Chinese entry in the morning match of the same day.
The duo tied Kazakhstan with identical 2-1 records behind defending champion China’s Xue Chen and Xinyi Xia, who are dominating the contest with back-to-back lopsided victories including a 21-11, 21-5 beating of Rodriguez and Eslapor.
China, Philippines and Kazakhstan are through to the next phase which will begin on Sunday.
Rodriguez and Eslapor will face Sri Lanka’s Bandara Magadegara Deepika and Madushan Kumbure Gedara Chathurika to end the group stage Friday.
In men’s play, Jaron Requinton and Ranran Abdilla fight for dear life on Friday against Qataris Cherif Younousse Samba and Ahmed Tijan Janko in Pool B.
Jude Garcia and James Buytrago, on the other hand, are in a similar situation needing to hurdle Sajid Ismail and Adam Naseem of the Maldives in Pool A Friday morning.
