Indonesian spikers D’Cassie walloped the Philippine squad D’Organix 25-17 to emerge as champions in the one-day Sultan Kudarat Volleyball Friendship Games on Dec 25 at Fa Hui Park in Mongkok.
D’Cassie fought its way to the championship by beating the other best of four winners in the elimination round.
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| First runner-up D’Organix players pose with league organizer and Sultan Kudarat Volleyball team leader Jhergin Barcelona (extreme right) and guests at the close of the on-day friendship league . |
At the end of the games, D’Cassie was on first place, D'Organix second; Indonesian team Metal, third, and another Filipina team, Lady Fighters, fourth.
A total of 14 teams, mostly Filipino, participated in the friendly games, the second one-day league brought together by the barely three-month-old Sultan Kudarat volleyball group led by Jhergin Barcelona.
“Noong October lang po namin binuo ang team at pagkatapos ay ginanap namin ang unang friendly one-day league noong Oct 28,” Barcelona told The SUN.
Other members of the team, which works as a committee, are Teng Hernandez, Swet Fulgencio, Jack Manabat, Rose dela Cruz, Elsa Janoras, Bai Parangan, Cel Gumban, Con Baldemor, Chel Riparip, Clear Gumowang, Ping Caceres, Sasa Manzanares, Chel Ferrer, Ren Clar, Renie Duyao and Clear Nasalga.
Barcelona said she met D’Cassie in the first friendly league that Sultan Kudarat held and found that the Indonesians, led by Mika, were friendly and most disciplined players.
“That’s why we invited them to play again this time around,” said Barcelona, who, like the rest of the players in the friendly league, is a domestic helper.
She said she formed the team and went on to organize leagues to provide the army of foreign domestic workers in Hong Kong to keep them away from crowded Central, the city’s financial district that converts into a gathering place for them on Sundays.
“At least dito, instead na naapag-uusapan nila ang tsismis at mga problema sa buhay ay ang problema sa court ang napag-uusapan namin,” said Barcelona.
Aside from attracting the helpers away from their usual idling places, the leagues are intended to hone the volleyball skills of the players and to raise funds for charity projects back home.
When one of the Sultan Kudarat’s 16 team members goes home, she has a project in mind, such as tree-planting by school children. So she receives funds to buy the materials she needs for the project.
Sultan Kudarat is tapping individual or corporate sponsors, such as Amazing Speed, a cargo forwarder, to donate the trophies and medals that the team gives away to the players.
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| The search for the “Queen of the Night” added excitement to the league with muses from each of the 14 teams competing for the honor that was eventually won by the Lady Fighters’ muse. |
Barcelona said the team had submitted its registration as an organization to the police so it would have legal personality and to register as a Filcom group at the Consulate.
She had already sounded out the Consulate’s cultural section about it and said the section was just waiting for the group’s police registration to be released in December but which she would pick up in January.
