Women’s sprint team adds silver to PH medal cache in Sanya

Kristina Knott (right) eases ahead. —POC PHOTO

SANYA—The women’s sprint team bagged a silver medal in beach athletics as the team built around Kristina Knott added to the Filipinos’ medal haul that kept Team Philippines in third place overall after Sunday’s hostilities in the sixth Asian Beach Games here.

Jessica Rose Laurance added a silver medal to her bronze won on Saturday by teaming up with Shane Joy Ponce, Lianne Diana Pama and the Olympian Knott as the quartet finished second in the 4×60 meter relay at Phoenix Island.

At press time on Sunday, the official medal tally showed the Philippines in third place with three gold, two silver and two bronze medals behind second-running Thailand with a 4-5-3 haul and host China, which leads the pack with 13 gold, 11 silver and four bronze.

Villapando-Matibag wins

“It’s so different. There’s no baton. The exchange zone is three meters versus 30 meters,” Knott said of her new experience running for Team PH. “So, I think that was our only enemy in the race was the zone.”

“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.”

Over at the Tianya Haijiao Venue Cluster, Sunny Villapando and Grydelle Matibag clobbered Sri Lanka’s Shehani Ashtanga Wattage and Ktl Alawaththage, 21-15, 21-13 in their Round of 16 tiff.

The Villapando-Matibag pair will take on Japan’s Matsumoto Ren and Matsumoto Non on Monday in the Last Eight at the same venue where Khylem Progella and Sofiah Pagara will face Thailand in another QF clash.