Ana Thea hopes team will be medal contenders in 2019

THE pained look on Ana Thea Cenarosa’s face says it all.

The 25-year-old could not hide her disappointment after watching the Philippines being hammered 96-11 by Malaysia in their final round-robin match at Stadium Juara in Bukit Kiara yesterday.

The defeat meant the Philippines lost all their four round-robin matches.

But she’s not despondent.

In fact, she’s hopeful of the future as she expects the Philippines to go from being the whipping girls to medal contenders at the 2019 Games on home ground.

“We only started to look for a team in March.

“Full-time training began in May. It was all a rush,” said Ana Thea, who works as an administrator in Manila.

“Only three of us played in the previous Games in Singapore.

“(The other two are Eliezza Ventura and Aquino Teresa Ange).

“None of us are netball players. We play basketball, volleyball and fencing.

“But we had an intensive training stint in Singapore before coming here.

“We’ll try to get an early start for the next SEA Games and give our rivals a stronger fight.”

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