THE Philippine sepak takraw women’s doubles team grabbed a silver medal after yielding to Vietnam, 8-15, 4-15, in the final of the 20th Asian Games at the Nagoya City Mizuho Park Gymnasium in Japan Tuesday morning. Jean Marie Sucalit, Abegail Sinogbuhan, and Nelly Jay Salon found no answer against the Vietnamese side of Nguyen Thi Thu Trang, Nguyen Thi Khanh Ly, and Le Thi Hong Lien especially in the second set. Unable to secure a breakthrough gold, the Filipinos nonetheless posted their highest finish in the tournament with a silver which is the Philippines’ third overall in the ongoing meet. At press time, the country also had two golds and 11 bronzes. Jean Marie Sucalit, Abegail Sinogbuhan, and Nelly Jay Salon started their campaign with a 10-15, 17-14, 15-11 win against Japan and a 15-12, 15-6 victory over India last Sunday. The trio ended its preliminaries with a 1-2 loss to South Korea to finish second in Group B. The Philippines defeated Group A leader Laos in the crossover semifinals on Monday, 15-12, 15-10, to advance to the gold medal match. “This is the first medal of the national women’s sepaktakraw team in the Asian Games,” said Sucalit in an interview with Cignal. “We’re so happy and we hope this serves as a motivation for our youth who play sepak takraw. They will be more eager to play because of this medal.” Salon said they’ve been wanting to really make history in women’s sepak takraw. “It’s overwhelming (to win a silver) because as I told them the whole year we’ve been training that I really want to make history for women’s sepak takraw since our men’s team already did (in the 2023 Asian Games),” shared Salon. “We’ve been hoping to make history as well for the women’s and it’s already here. I don’t know what to feel right now, should I be happy or cry out of joy.” The Philippine men’s regu team likewise made the podium on Monday, capturing a bronze medal with a 15-10, 11-15, 7-15 defeat to Malaysia.