CAGAYAN de Oro City — A three-woman team from Mindanao and Cebu made Philippine sports history by winning the country’s first Asian Games silver medal in women’s sepak takraw. 

Sarangani’s Abegail Sinogbuhan, Cebu’s Jean Marie Sucalit and Davao City’s Nelly Jay Salon secured the historic finish Tuesday at the Nagoya City Mizuho Park Gymnasium. 

The Filipinas fell to powerhouse Vietnam, 15-8, 15-4, in the gold-medal match but finished with the Philippines’ highest-ever result in Asian Games sepak takraw. 

The silver was also the Philippines’ 15th medal in the 2026 Asian Games and its third silver. 

From heartbreak to the podium 

For Sinogbuhan, reaching the final was already beyond what the team expected. 

“Even now, I still have mixed emotions,” said Sinogbuhan, the team’s primary playmaker. She said the team had simply prayed to bring home a medal. 

Sucalit described the silver as a breakthrough after years of returning from international competitions without a medal. 

“All the fatigue and the failures we went through in past competitions just flashed back,” she said. 

“Now, thanks to God, we finally have a medal to bring back—and it’s a silver.” 

Salon, who supported her teammates from the bench, said she was proud to see the pair accomplish what they had set out to do. 

“They made history—we made history together,” she said. 

One win from gold 

The Filipinas reached the championship match after sweeping Laos, 15-12, 15-10, in Monday’s semifinal. 

They had earlier beaten host Japan and India in the group stage before losing to South Korea and advancing to the knockout rounds. 

Vietnam controlled the gold-medal match from the start, with veterans Nguyen Thi Thu Trang and Nguyen Thi Khanh Ly pulling away in the second set. 

Still, the silver marked a milestone for Philippine sepak takraw. 

It was the country’s second sepak takraw medal in the Games after the men’s regu team earlier won bronze. 

The Philippines entered the final with two gold medals won by gymnast Carlos Yulo, while kickboxer Jean Claude Saclag and the Gilas Pilipinas Women’s 3x3 team had also contributed silver medals. 

The women’s sepak takraw silver added another historic chapter to the country’s campaign in Nagoya.