By KRISTEL SATUMBAGA
PHNOM PENH, Cambodia — Veteran setter Jia De Guzman showed her appreciation for her teammates despite another heartbreaking defeat to a familiar foe in a battle for the bronze medal in the 32nd Southeast Asian Games at the National Olympic Stadium here.
The Filipina spikers bowed to Indonesia, 25-20, 22-25, 25-22, 25-23, for another medal-less campaign in the biennial meet, settling for fourth place for the fourth straight edition.
“I’m proud of my teammates,” said De Guzman. “Kahit sinong pinasok naman, binigay yung all. Given the preparation that we had, binubuhos talaga namin lahat ng mabubuhos namin.”
De Guzman added they did the best they could in maximizing all the resources that they had given the limited time in preparing for the meet, especially coming up against a solid team like Indonesia.
“Ilang years na namin silang nakakalaban and sila-sila rin ang magkakasama, so yun yung isang challenge samin as a team na recently lang nabuo,” De Guzman said.
“Even though half (of the team) is Creamline, syempre marami kaming kasama sa loob coming from different teams pero we did our best to maximize all of the strengths that we have,” she added.
Skipper Alyssa Valdez, who saw limited action in the biennial meet after coming off an injury, remained optimistic of the squad despite falling short of their goal of a podium finish.
“Personally, I really wanted to contribute more to the team, but kung ano yung tawagin sa ating role, yun yung gagawin natin,” said Valdez, who is also the country’s flag bearer.
“So sinabi ko lang after the game, it’s another SEA Games, we’ll get them next time. We really have to work harder, better and smarter. Hopefully, we’ll see each other next time,” she added.
