The Philippine Olympic Committee (POC) lauded the victory of Alas Pilipinas over powerhouse Egypt in the preliminaries of the FIVB Volleyball Men’s World Championship.

POC president Abraham “Bambol” Tolentino said the win was a dream come true and an accomplishment that will surely elevate the landscape of Philippine volleyball.

“It was a dream come true,” said Philippine Olympic Committee president Abraham “Bambol” Tolentino on Tuesday, the day after the Philippines made world volleyball history by beating Egypt, 29-27, 23-25, 25-21, 25-21, before a raucous big crowd at the Mall of Asia Arena of Tuesday.

Egypt has the credentials to be a big fish landed by the world championship first-timer Philippines as it is a nine-time African champion with a best-place 13th spot in the 2010 world championship where it saw action for 11 times and a six-time Olympian and was ninth in 2016 in Rio de Janeiro.

“These men have etched their names in volleyball history and their victory would surely be an inspiration and motivation for the next generation to emulate as role model,” said Tolentino, who added that Philippine sports have swiftly gone elite starting with Hidilyn Diaz’s gold medal in the Tokyo Olympics and Carlos Yulo’s double gold performance in the Paris Summer Games last year.

“It’s all about setting goals and working very hard to achieve those goals,” said Tolentino, a member of the board of the Local Organizing Committee of the country’s first-time and solo hosting of the world championship.

“It was a long shot, we never aimed that high for Alas Pilipinas in this world championship, but they overachieved. I commend the PNVF (Philippine National Volleyball Federation) for this achievement and the support of the entire sports community in this success.”

Tolentino reiterated” “To build champions, it takes the entire community — the government, the Philippine Sports Commission, the private sector, the Filipino fan, to name a few.”

He also stressed that with the victory, the Philippines has earned another niche in the global volleyball and sports family.

“Two birds with one stone — we won in a world championship and the sports tourism campaign got another major boost,” he said.