THE Philippine Blu Girls will go home with a fourth straight fourth place finish in the Asian Games (Asiad) after succumbing to the Taiwanese, 2-12, in the battle for the Asian Games bronze medal over the weekend at the Anjo grounds in Aichi, Japan.
And count on them to keep on working until the Cebuana Lhuillier-backed Filipinas finally hit their goal of a breakthrough medal in the quadrennial event.
“Of course, we wanted to see the Blu Girls come home with a medal, but this campaign gave us many reasons to be proud,” said Amateur Softball Association of the Philippines President Jean Henri Lhuillier.
“They faced the some of the strongest teams in Asia, fought their way back after a difficult start, and never stopped competing for the flag.”
“That resilience is what defines this team and we will continue to support them, build on everything we learned here, and keep working towards the day Philippine softball finally reaches that Asian Games podium,” he added.
The Blu Girls had to overcome two early defeats at the hands of eventual gold winners, the Japanese, and the Taiwanese and won four in row over the South Koreans, 7-3, Thais, 7-0, Singaporeans and the Hong Kong team, 9-3, before falling to the Chinese, 0-7.
That set it up against Chinese Taipei in a duel for a historic bronze.
It was just not meant to be.
The Philippines also finished fourth in 2014 in Incheon, South Korea, 2018 in Jakarta-Palembang, Indonesia and 2022 in Hangzhou, China. — Joey Villar