The Philippine National Volleyball Federation (PNVF) is looking to follow the same blueprint that has made Qatar one of the strongest and most successful beach volleyball nations in Asia.
Coming on the heels of the historic gold medal win of the Philippines in the 33rd Southeast Asian Games women’s beach volleyball competition in Thailand, PNVF president Tony Boy Liao laid out the federation’s initial plan in maintaining the momentum gained by Alas Pilipinas.
Liao said that PNVF will concentrate on providing support and exposure to one pair in the men’s and women’s divisions while still maintaining a pool of talent.
The federation chief explained that the chosen Alas pairs will be the ones competing in international events starting in the 2026 calendar as preparation for major tournaments, including the 2026 Aichi-Nagoya Asian Games.
“Qatar and other countries concentrate on only one pair per division. That’s where they pour their financial support, exposing them to different (beach volleyball) events,” Liao explained.
“So just look at Qatar now. They were able to get a bronze medal in the Olympics through that program. They focus only on one team. They make sure the team will always participate in international events,” Liao said about the Qatari men’s tandem of Cherif Younousse and Ahmed Tijan that bagged bronze in the 2020 Tokyo Olympics.
The former Asian Volleyball Confederation (AVC) beach volleyball chairman opened the idea to Brazilian head coach Joao Luciano Kioday when he chanced upon the mentor during their flight to Bangkok for the biennial meet.
He said Kioday was receptive to the plan.
“So, I told them maybe we could follow what Qatar did. They said it was a good idea,” Liao said.
“But of course, we still need to have a pool. We don’t know what would happen; there could be injuries, so we need to have a pool. So that’s what we want to do now. We’ll concentrate on one team in the men’s and women’s that will participate in events in 2026.”
At the Asia level, Alas is looking at a busy 2026, starting in April with the AVC Beach Tour 1 and the Asian Beach Games.
June events include three Beach Tour competitions and the Asian Beach Volleyball Championships heading into the 20th Asian Games in September.
The tandem of Sisi Rondina and Bernadeth Pons, along with the pair of Dij Rodriguez and Sunnie Villapando and reserve Gen Eslapor delivered the country’s first-ever SEA Games gold medal after blanking host Thailand in the final.
Rondina and Pons could be the logical choice for the “one pair” program on the distaff side, given the team’s experience and battle-tested chemistry.
However, the PNVF will still need to negotiate with the Rebisco management, which loaned the two players to Alas from their indoor volleyball clubs.