Filipino beach volley quartet unseats eight-time champ Thailand
Sisi Rondina saw the official broadcaster’s promotion post hours before Alas Pilipinas’ gold medal match, with a caption asking: “Can they take on the hosts and bring home the elusive gold for Team Philippines?”
Ever the fighter, Rondina said ‘yes’ and put her game where her mouth is as she and Bernadeth Pons dominated Game 1 before Dij Rodriguez and newcomer Sunny Villapando sealed the first-ever Southeast Asian Games gold medal for the country to end Thailand’s eight-edition reign on Friday at Jomtien Beach in Chonburi.
“We really did it. Thank you so much to everyone,” Rondina said in Filipino. “Thank you to my teammates. I honestly don’t know what else to say. We won gold.
“It feels amazing, especially for Pons and me,” she went on. “This is already our fifth SEA Games and we finally won gold at the international level. We’re so grateful because we have teammates, coaches and management who truly believe in us.”
Veterans touch it off
Rondina and Pons opened the finals by sweeping three-time champions Kongphopsarutawadee Worapeerachayakorn and Taravadee Naraphornrapat, 21-17, 21-15, as the longtime partners who made a return to indoor volleyball set the tone against a Thai pair that had ruled the last three SEA Games.
Rodriguez and Villapando then sealed the historic victory with a 21-13, 17-21, 15-6 win over Tanarattha Udomchavee and Rumpaipruet Numwong.
“I’m just incredibly grateful to the Lord, because I really manifested this gold medal,” Pons said, also in Filipino. “I imagined this moment so many times. There were moments when I’d suddenly get emotional just thinking about it. Manifestation is real, but of course, it comes with hard work.”
A two-time bronze medalist with Rondina and Rodriguez in 2019 and 2021 before missing the podium in Cambodia two years ago, Pons’ manifestations took shape after sweeping the program that won all the past eight editions since beach volleyball became an official SEA Games sport in 2003.
“I’m so happy we won this game. We knew it wouldn’t be easy,” Pons explained. “Thailand has been the defending champion for so many years. One of the reasons we chose (to play) beach volleyball (again) was because we really wanted to bounce back and prove ourselves.
“We wanted to beat them on their home court and now it’s happened,” Pons added.
Despite getting dragged to a deciding third set, Rodriguez and Villapando never wavered and got their act together by opening up a 9-3 lead and never looking back.
Inspired by Filipinas
Rodriguez scored three straight points to reach match point, 14-6, before the Filipino American spiker found an open spot to hit the gold medal-clinching attack. She said it was a performance inspired by another breakthrough team in the Filipinas in football just the night before.
“What really stuck with me was something I couldn’t get out of my head—what our football goalkeeper (Olivia McDaniel) once said: when you have nothing left, just keep trusting Him. That’s what stayed with me,” she said.
“If others were able to wait 18 years, that’s such a long time—this is already my fourth SEA Games and we’ve dreamed of winning gold for so long. And finally, the Lord answered our prayers.”
