BUSINESS AS USUAL: Asiad stint beckons Alas despite PNVF suspension

Alas Pilipinas’ indoor and beach volleyball teams will still get to suit up for the Asian Games in Japan in September.

The Philippine Olympic Committee (POC) is set to handle the affairs of the national squads heading into the 20th Aichi-Nagoya Asiad in the wake of suspensions meted out on the Philippine National Volleyball Federation (PNVF).

POC brought down the hammer on the local governing body during its General Assembly held at the Solaire Resort Hotel on Monday.

The development announced on Wednesday came weeks after the Philippine Sports Commission pulled the plug on its financial aid to the federation, followed by a suspension from the International Volleyball Federation (FIVB).

Despite the lack of a functioning national sports association, the POC assured that Alas will get to participate in the 19 September to 4 October continental multi-sport spectacle.

“We just want the participation of the national team in the Asian Games so that the country has a representative. They qualified. We don’t want to waste the slot,” POC president Abraham “Bambol” Tolentino said in an interview with DAILY TRIBUNE.

Alas Pilipinas men’s indoor team is out for redemption after a 13th place finish in the Hangzhou edition three years ago.

Coming off a bronze medal finish in the 33rd Southeast Asian Games in Thailand last year, expectations are high for the world No. 89 Alas Men’s in their second straight Asian Games stint.

All eyes are also on the Alas Women’s beach volleyball tandem of Sisi Rondina and Bernadeth Pons, who led the Philippines to a breakthrough gold medal in the 2025 SEA Games.

It will be the first Asiad participation of the beach volleyball duo, which is projected to go deeper following the quarterfinal exit of Dij Rodriguez and Gene Eslapor in the previous edition.

Also earning a slot is the Alas Men’s beach volleyball crew seeking to rebound from a Round of 16 axing in China.

The controversy-marred Alas women’s indoor team will also have the greenlight to participate; however, the composition of the team is still being determined.

A series of withdrawals from the core of Alas Women’s squad that had been together for two years forced the PNVF to form a revamped team led by Alyssa Valdez that competed in the 2026 Asian Volleyball Confederation (AVC) Women’s Volleyball Cup in Candon, Ilocos Sur.

The hastily-assembled Alas missed the podium for the first time in three years following its third and runner-up finishes in 2024 and 2025. It landed at eighth — the Philippines’ worst finish in the tournament.

Tolentino said the POC will ask local clubs to loan the best available players to ensure Alas will field a competitive team in its return to the Asiad after skipping the previous edition.

Alas finished eighth in the 11-team field in the 2018 Asiad in Indonesia.

“Other countries did not qualify for the Asian Games. This is based on the ranking. We can’t let that go. We can’t let the national team representation go,” Tolentino said.

A unanimous vote during POC’s Executive Board formalized the embattled PNVF’s suspension.

On 29 May, the PSC cut the Tonyboy Liao-headed PNVF’s funding due to breach of contractual obligations related to the recent Beach Pro Tour Nuvali and “continuing operational misalignment with the LOC (local organizing committee) and PSC in the handling and execution of events.”

After a few hours, the Asian Volleyball Confederation (AVC) debunked the PNVF following its withdrawal of support for AVC president and the federation’s former hear Ramon “Tats” Suzara.