By ADRIAN STEWART CO
The Philippine women’s football team vented its ire on Myanmar with a 3-0 domination in the 19th Asian Games at the Wenzhou Sports Centre Stadium in Hangzhou, China on Thursday night, September 28.
Sara Eggesvik scored twice in the second half, while Sarina Bolden added a penalty in the opening half as the Filipinas earned a quarterfinal seat for being one of the three best second-place teams.
“I’m glad to help the team go to the knockout stage. It could have been any one of us who scored,” Eggesvik said in an interview posted on the Philippine women’s national football team’s social media page.
“I’m glad to get on the score sheet. It’s always a team effort. I’m glad the team did really well today. I got good balls so I could just tap it in,” she added.
Bolden kicked off the scoring for Team Philippines in the 19th minute as she connected a spot-kick penalty after being brought down by a Myanmar defender from inside the box.
Eggesvik drained the Philippine women’s football team’s second goal in the 60th minute as she connected with Bolden’s header and volleyed the ball past the defense and into the net.
A minute later, Eggesvik knocked down her second goal of the game as she slotted the ball past Myanmar’s goalkeeper to make it a 3-0 advantage, securing the much-needed victory.
However, a huge challenge awaits the Mark Toscano-mentored Filipinas in the knockout quarterfinals round on Saturday, September 30, as they will face Japan, which scored a 7-0 domination over Vietnam last Thursday.
Meanwhile, Alex Eala captured her second bronze medal in the 19th Asian Games as she and Francis Alcantara finished second runner-up in the mixed team event at the HOC Tennis Centre 1 in Hangzhou, China yesterday.
Eala and Alcantara fell short of moving on to the gold medal match after suffering a 7-5, 6-3 loss to Liang En-shuo and Huang Tsung-hao of Chinese Taipei in the semifinals round.
Eala earlier won a bronze medal in the women’s singles event after suffering a 6-1, 6-7, 6-3 loss to China’s Qinwen Zheng in the semifinals on Thursday afternoon.
On the other hand, Fernando Jose Casares and Andrew Kim Remolino failed to land a podium finish in the men’s individual triathlon event yesterday morning.
Casares landed in 10th place in the competition after finishing the race in two hours and 53 seconds, while Remolino was in 13th place in two hours, four minutes and 47 seconds.
In boxing, Marjon Pianar failed to progress to the quarterfinals round after a unanimous decision defeat to Uzbekistan’s Asadkhuja Muydinkhujaev in the men’s 71-kilogram event.
Bacolodnon Riza Pasuit was also unsuccessful in advancing to the quarterfinals round of the women’s 57-60 kilogram category after being beaten by Thailand’s Thananya Somnuek./ASC, WDJ