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Impressed Richard Gomez sees bright future for PHL women's volleyball squad


Richard Gomez watched the Philippines' games against and Iran and Kazakhstan in the first two days of the Asian Under-23 Women's Volleyball Championship at PhilSports Arena in Pasig City.

The veteran actor, who played for Systema in the Shakey's V-League men's division last year, came to support the team along with his wife Lucy Torres-Gomez and daughter Julianna.

Gomez said he was impressed by the Filipina squad composed led by volleyball superstar Alyssa Valdez as they split their games in the pool stage against taller teams Iran and Kazakhstan.

"I'm happy with their performance," he told GMA News Online in an interview. "If they continue to play this way, then we're very optimistic about the SEA Games."

The inexperienced Philippines fell in four sets to the Iranians after putting up a gallant effort of extending the game in the third set. The team led in attack points and service aces, but yielded the game due to excessive errors.

The Filipina ladies, however, bounced back big against formidable Kazakhstan the following day with a straight-set victory. They win landed them a spot in the quarterfinals after taking four sets in two games.

"I was really hopeful yesterday that they will win against Iran, pero it didn't turn out that way," Gomez said. "But against Kazakhstan, who I think is the stronger team, kung kaya pala nila today, sana tinalo na lang nila yesterday."

The Philippines has been on a long hiatus in international volleyball, but the team is making a strong statement in the country's come back tournament as they earn the respect of opponents in the Asian region.

Gomez said that the sport can only improve from here on given its popularity and mainstream break out.

"It's getting much better. Especially the support of the people, the fans, it's really a big help to the performance of the team," he said. "It boosts up their game, and sana it continues to be that way." -- JST, GMA News