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Volleyball: Philippines learned a lot from China — ‘Malayo pa talaga’

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Camille B. Naredo, ABS-CBN News

<div class="embed-wrap"><figure data-feedback="fb:likes,fb:comments"><img src="http://sa.kapamilya.com/absnews/abscbnnews/media/2018/sports/08/30/08282018-volleyballjpg.jpg"/><figcaption>Zhu Ting (No. 2) and China left the Philippines women&#x27;s national team in awe during their match in the 2018 Asian Games in Jakarta on Wednesday.<em> 2018 Asian Games website</em></figcaption></figure></div><p>JAKARTA—The Philippine women’s volleyball team got a close look at how world class volleyball is played on Wednesday night, when it took on reigning Olympic champion China in the quarterfinals of the 2018 Asian Games.</p><p>The Chinese team, anchored by superstar Zhu Ting, needed just 59 minutes to dismiss the Filipinas, 25-15, 25-9, 25-7, at the Indoor Tennis Hall of the Gelora Bung Karno Sports Complex.</p><p>So dominant was China that Zhu did not even break a sweat; the star open spiker played limited minutes and scored just five points on top of four digs. It was Gong Xiangyu who led China with 16 points on 11 kills, four blocks and an ace.</p><ul class="op-related-articles">	<li><a href="http://news.abs-cbn.com/sports/08/29/18/asian-games-philippines-bows-to-china-out-of-medal-contention-in-volleyball">Asian Games: Philippines bows to China, out of medal contention in volleyball</a></li></ul><p>“Grabe, grabe sila mag-laro,” gushed Philippine coach Shaq delos Santos after the game. “Kumbaga, ang lalaki nila pero grabe ’yung speed, skills, yung talent. Smart maglaro and talagang all out sila pagka naglalaro.”</p><p>“Hindi sila pwedeng ’yung alam mong magiging complacent, no. Talagang ganu’n pala ang team ng China na kaya pala nag-champion sila ng Olympics,” he added.</p><p>For Delos Santos, it was crucial that every member of the national team got to play against China, as he wanted his players to know what it was like to compete against the best team in the world. </p><p>“For us, napakagandang experience sa’min and hopefully, mas maging inspired kami. Sabi ko nga sa mga bata, di natin kailangan ma-down,” he said. </p><p>“Kailangan mas maging inspired tayo and kailangan may matutunan tayo every time na naglalaro tayo. So for us, magandang experience and hopefully madala namin to para doon sa process na ginagawa namin sa team,” he added.</p><p>The players themselves knew that China was a cut above them — and their game on Wednesday showed just how far Philippine volleyball has to go before it can compete on the same level.</p><p>“Isang karangalan na makalaban ang China team, purong Olympian,” team captain Abigail Maraño said on Instagram. “Mapalad kami na makaranas ng ganito, ’yung sumubok at hindi sumuko.”</p><p>“Nagsisimula pa lang tayo. Malayo pa ang itatakbo ng Pilipinas volleyball. Sa ngayon, nakita natin kung nasaan na tayo. Malayo pa, pero magityaga lang at tiwala, lahat ng iyan makakaya,” she added.</p><blockquote class="instagram-media" data-instgrm-captioned="" data-instgrm-permalink="https://www.instagram.com/p/BnEO3PwgQ8A/?utm_source=ig_embed" data-instgrm-version="9" style="background:#FFF;border:0;border-radius:3px;box-shadow:0 0 1px 0 rgba(0,0,0,0.5),0 1px 10px 0 rgba(0,0,0,0.15);margin:1px;max-width:540px;min-width:326px;padding:0;width:calc(100% - 2px)"><div style="padding:8px"><div style="background:#F8F8F8;line-height:0;margin-top:40px;padding:37.824074074074076% 0;text-align:center;width:100%"><div style="background:url(data:image/png;base64,iVBORw0KGgoAAAANSUhEUgAAACwAAAAsCAMAAAApWqozAAAABGdBTUEAALGPC/xhBQAAAAFzUkdCAK7OHOkAAAAMUExURczMzPf399fX1+bm5mzY9AMAAADiSURBVDjLvZXbEsMgCES5/P8/t9FuRVCRmU73JWlzosgSIIZURCjo/ad+EQJJB4Hv8BFt+IDpQoCx1wjOSBFhh2XssxEIYn3ulI/6MNReE07UIWJEv8UEOWDS88LY97kqyTliJKKtuYBbruAyVh5wOHiXmpi5we58Ek028czwyuQdLKPG1Bkb4NnM+VeAnfHqn1k4+GPT6uGQcvu2h2OVuIf/gWUFyy8OWEpdyZSa3aVCqpVoVvzZZ2VTnn2wU8qzVjDDetO90GSy9mVLqtgYSy231MxrY6I2gGqjrTY0L8fxCxfCBbhWrsYYAAAAAElFTkSuQmCC);display:block;height:44px;margin:0 auto -44px;position:relative;top:-22px;width:44px"> </div></div><div style="margin:8px 0 0 0;padding:0 4px"><a href="https://www.instagram.com/p/BnEO3PwgQ8A/?utm_source=ig_embed" style="color:#000;font-family:Arial,sans-serif;font-size:14px;font-style:normal;font-weight:normal;line-height:17px;text-decoration:none;word-wrap:break-word" target="_blank">Isang karangalan na makalaban ang China team, purong Olympian. Mapalad kami na makaranas ng ganito, yung sumubok at hindi sumuko. Nagsisimula pa lang tayo. Malayo pa ang itatakbo ng Pilipinas Volleyball. Sa ngayon, nakita natin kung nasaan na tayo. Malayo pa pero magtiyaga lang at tiwala, lahat ng iyan makakaya. Siya nga pala, pinupuri ko ang batang ito @alyjasantiago3 na nakipagtagisan ng galing at husay kanina. Mabuhay ka Ja, tandaan mo yung sinabi ko, ikaw ang pinakamalaking manlalaro ng Volleyball sa Pilipinas at malayo pa ang mararating mo kaya tumuloy ka, wag hihinto. Ipinagmamalaki ka namin. 👏🏻</a></div><p style="color:#c9c8cd;font-family:Arial,sans-serif;font-size:14px;line-height:17px;margin-bottom:0;margin-top:8px;overflow:hidden;padding:8px 0 7px;text-align:center;text-overflow:ellipsis;white-space:nowrap">A post shared by <a href="https://www.instagram.com/abymarano/?utm_source=ig_embed" style="color:#c9c8cd;font-family:Arial,sans-serif;font-size:14px;font-style:normal;font-weight:normal;line-height:17px" target="_blank"> Abigail Palmares Maraño</a> (@abymarano) on <time dateTime="2018-08-29T14:27:27+00:00" style="font-family:Arial,sans-serif;font-size:14px;line-height:17px">Aug 29, 2018 at 7:27am PDT</time></p></div></blockquote><div><script async="" defer="" src="https://www.instagram.com/embed.js" type="text/javascript"></script></div><p>Echoing her team captain’s sentiments was Alyssa Valdez, who said it was a privilege to have played against the reigning Olympic gold medalists.</p><p>“I think what we learned and we got here from today&#x27;s game is malayo pa talaga,” she noted. “And that&#x27;s not a negative outcome or output sa team. It&#x27;s actually a positive, kasi we&#x27;re really motivated na mas galingan at mas mag-pursige pa kami sa mga trainings namin.”</p><p>Jaja Santiago, the lone Filipino player to reach double digits with 16 points, drew inspiration from how the towering Chinese players excelled both on offense and defense. </p><p>“Kumbaga ako, malaki na ako pero minsan ang palo ko, bumababa ’yung kamay ko. Sila, talagang sa taas nila kinukuha, lumalagpas, as in kaya nilang ibababawan talaga lahat ng blockers,” said Santiago.</p><p>“And sobrang galing din nila dumepensa. Actually ako, malaki ako, nahihirapan akong dumepensa, pero sila grabe sila dumepensa. Walang akong masabi sa performance na binibigay nila every game.”</p><p>All is not lost for the Filipinas, however. They will still have two more games in the classification phase, starting with a showdown against Kazakhstan on Friday.</p><p>“Eto talaga ’yung pinaka-goal ng team . . . to have a high classification in the Asian Games,” said Valdez. “We’re going to train and prepare well for Kazakhstan, and we’re going to put our hearts out there.”</p><p>“Hindi ko alam kung ito ’yung Kazakhstan sa under-23 or kalaban namin sa AVC,” she added. “But kung sino man sila, lalaban kami as isang bansa, Pilipinas. We&#x27;re gonna fight hard.”</p><figure class="op-interactive"><div id="IVS_ABS_Body_Video_1_Container"> <ivs-player id="IVS_ABS_Body_Video_1" data-ivs-spid="3001339" data-ivs-key="e8c22c015ca9eafa76f1e3edfa03c603" data-ivs-vid="1426148" data-ivs-floating="1"></ivs-player> <script src="https://player.ivideosmart.com/ivsplayer/v4/dist/js/iframe-parent.js"></script> <script src="https://player.ivideosmart.com/ivsplayer/v4/dist/js/loader.js"></script> </div></figure><div class="iwantbar">Interview with Alyssa Valdez. <em>Camille B. Naredo, ABS-CBN News</em></div><figure class="op-interactive"><div id="IVS_ABS_Body_Video_2_Container"> <ivs-player id="IVS_ABS_Body_Video_2" data-ivs-spid="3001339" data-ivs-key="e8c22c015ca9eafa76f1e3edfa03c603" data-ivs-vid="1426143" data-ivs-floating="1"></ivs-player> <script src="https://player.ivideosmart.com/ivsplayer/v4/dist/js/iframe-parent.js"></script> <script src="https://player.ivideosmart.com/ivsplayer/v4/dist/js/loader.js"></script> </div></figure><div class="iwantbar">Interview with Jaja Santiago. <em>Camille B. Naredo, ABS-CBN News</em></div><figure class="op-interactive"><div id="IVS_ABS_Body_Video_3_Container"> <ivs-player id="IVS_ABS_Body_Video_3" data-ivs-spid="3001339" data-ivs-key="e8c22c015ca9eafa76f1e3edfa03c603" data-ivs-vid="1426146" data-ivs-floating="1"></ivs-player> <script src="https://player.ivideosmart.com/ivsplayer/v4/dist/js/iframe-parent.js"></script> <script src="https://player.ivideosmart.com/ivsplayer/v4/dist/js/loader.js"></script> </div></figure><div class="iwantbar">Interview with Shaq delos Santos. <em>Camille B. Naredo, ABS-CBN News</em></div><p>(For more sports coverage, visit the <a href="http://sports.abs-cbn.com/">ABS-CBN Sports website</a>.)</p>

<p>Although it drove home an already obvious point for the Philippines — they're nowhere near on the same level — playing China gave the national team a rare chance to play the best.</p>

Although it drove home an already obvious point for the Philippines — they're nowhere near on the same level — playing China gave the national team a rare chance to play the best.

Volleyball: Philippines learned a lot from China — ‘Malayo pa talaga’

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Volleyball: Philippines learned a lot from China — ‘Malayo pa talaga’

Camille B. Naredo,

ABS-CBN News

Published August 30, 2018 02:21 AM PHT

Read More:

2018 Asian Games

Philippine women's national volleyball team

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