The Philippine softball team still has a shot at the podium in the 2026 Asian Games despite suffering an abbreviated 7-0 loss to powerhouse China on Thursday at the Anjo Softball Ground.
The result snapped the Blu Girls' three-game winning streak in the preliminary phase and dropped them to 3-3.
They are currently tied with South Korea for joint fourth heading into the final day of the prelims on Friday, wherein the Philippines will play Hong Kong.
After the round-robin preliminaries, the top two teams will battle for the gold while the third- and fourth-ranked squads will contest the bronze. Japan (5-0) and China (6-0) occupy the top spots while Chinese-Taipei (4-1) is at third
Kailin Xi put China on the board in the bottom of the second inning, and the Blu Girls could not recover from there. China added two more runs in the third before a four-run fifth put a stop to the match via mercy rule.