PHNOM PENH—The Philippines settled for the women’s team of badminton bronze medal following a 0-3 loss to Indonesia 0-3 Wednesday in the 32nd Southeast Asian Games at the Morodok Techo National Stadium.
Mikaela Joy De Guzman lost to Komang Ayu Cahya Dewi, 21-13, 21-5, in the first singles and Airah Mae Nicole Albo and Thea Marie Pomar succumbed to Febriana Kusuma and Amallia Pratiwi, 21-11, 21-12, in doubles play.
Bianca Carlos fought gallantly in the second singles but lost steam against Ester Wardoyo, 21-19, 21-9.
Carlos said the team is still proud of their achievement despite falling short of making it into the gold-medal round.
“We feel very blessed at this point, to be able to match up with them and play against powerhouse teams that used to crush us before,” said Carlos, noting their stunning 3-0 win against Malaysia for a place in the semis.
“Even if we lost 3-0 to Indonesia, we still played the best we could, so it’s really an improvement for Team Philippines,” she said.
This is the first SEA Games medal for the Philippines since Ronel Estanislao and Joper Escueta bagged the men’s doubles bronze in the 2015 games in Singapore.
Action in the men’s and women’s singles events fires off on Friday, May 12.