Sagaynon athlete Abegail Sinogbuhan helped make Philippine sports history after the national women’s sepak takraw doubles team captured the silver medal at the Aichi-Nagoya 2026 Asian Games in Japan, the country’s best-ever finish in the sport at the continental games.
Sinogbuhan, team captain and feeder, played alongside striker Jean Marie Sucalit, with Nelly Jay Salon as substitute, in the gold-medal match against Vietnam on Sept. 29 at the Nagoya City Mizuho Park Gymnasium. Vietnam won the final, 15-8, 15-4.
The silver marked the Philippines’ first-ever appearance in an Asian Games sepak takraw final and its highest finish in the sport since sepak takraw was introduced to the Games in 1990.
It was also a historic breakthrough for the Philippine women’s team, which secured its first Asian Games medal in sepak takraw.
The Filipinas reached the championship round after posting a 2-1 record in the group stage, defeating host Japan and India before losing to South Korea.
They then defeated Laos, 15-12, 15-10, in the semifinals to secure their place in the final and guarantee at least a silver medal.
For Sinogbuhan, the achievement capped a year of preparation and a personal goal of helping Philippine women’s sepak takraw make history.
“We trained for the whole year, and I kept telling them that I wanted us to make history for women’s sepak takraw. I was hoping we could do it at the Asian Games. Now that it has happened, I still don’t know exactly what I’m feeling,” Sinogbuhan said in an interview with One Sports.
She said the team entered the competition simply hoping to reach the podium and did not expect to advance all the way to the championship match.
“We just prayed that God would give us an opportunity to win a medal, whatever the color. We did not expect the silver, and we did not expect that we would reach the finals,” she added.
Sinogbuhan’s roots in Sagay City have also been documented in her previous international competitions.
In the 2019 Southeast Asian Games, she was among the Negrense athletes recognized after winning gold in women’s hoop sepak takraw and bronze in women’s regu for the Philippines.
Her official Asian Games athlete profile also lists her 2019 SEA Games gold and bronze, as well as a silver medal in women’s hooptakraw at the 2023 SEA Games in Phnom Penh, Cambodia.
Mayor Leo Rafael “Bebo” M. Cueva congratulated Sinogbuhan for carrying both the Philippine flag and Sagay’s name onto one of Asia’s biggest sporting stages.
“Abegail’s achievement is a proud moment for every Sagaynon. Years of discipline, sacrifice and training brought her to the Asian Games podium, and more importantly, she helped make history for Philippine women’s sepak takraw,” the mayor said.
He added that her journey shows our young athletes in Sagay that someone from our own community can compete with the best in Asia and achieve something that has never been done before.*
[sibwp_form id=1]