SANYA, China — The Philippines slipped to fourth place overall Wednesday but is on track for its best finish in the Asian Beach Games with medal hopes very much alive in 3×3 basketball here.

At 1 p.m. Wednesday, the official medal tally of the 6th edition of the ABG showed Team Philippines at No. 4 with three gold, three silver, and two bronze medals, with Iran surging to third with a 7-0-0 collection.

Thailand carries a 9-8-5 haul for second while host China leads all the 44 other countries with 21 gold, 14 silver, and eight bronze.

The Gilas Pilipinas 3×3 men team was playing the Thais in the semifinals of the cage tilt at press time at the Sanya Sports Centre Gymnasium.

Ditto with the women’s squad which was battling Singapore also in the semis.

Team Philippines’ drive in this resort city is supported by Philippine Olympic Committee President Abraham “Bambol” Tolentino and Philippine Sports Commission chairman Patrick “Pato” Gregorio.

With only the finals of handball slated, the closing ceremonies are scheduled Thursday with the hosting flag set to be turned over to the Philippines as it will host the 7th ABG in Cebu two years from now.

Before the return of the continental showpiece this year, the Philippines’ highest ranking in the ABG was in 2012 in Haiyang, China where the Pinoy bets wound up 11th overall with a pair of silver and bronze medals.

In sport climbing, coach John Aquino heaped praises on the national squad that saw John Forones break a Philippine record.

“We saw their hard work. We had three boot camps in Malaysia, Indonesia, and Thailand,” Aquino said after Forones finished his campaign along with Juan Miguel Azupardo in the men’s relay qualification at the Tianya Haijiao Venue Cluster.

“We were able to put up our own speed wall through the support of the PCI (Pilipinas Climbing) and the POC, and we were able to break a national record.”

Forones broke the 7.5 seconds record of Azupardo set in the 33rd Southeast Asian Games last December in Thailand with a time of 6.08 seconds in the men’s individual qualifying round for 28th overall Tuesday.

The wrestling delegation was unable to adapt to the sands as six bets missed out on medals in the 6th Asian Beach Games, dropping out in the preliminaries late Tuesday at the Sanya Bay Yuhai Club here.

Despite some rare bright spots with group stage wins courtesy of Abby Balisme and Joe Fer Callado in the women’s 60kg and men’s 70kg, respectively, it wasn’t enough to secure a spot in the quarterfinals.

Other bets, namely Aliah Gavalez, Fierre Afan, Neonards Cervantes, and Callum Roberts, were unable to eke out any victories in this seaport city, where they admitted that it was a new experience for the Nationals.