Asian Games: Classification-bound Alas Men fall short vs Chinese Taipei to cap preliminaries

Alas Pilipinas Men at the 20th Asian Games Aichi-Nagoya 2026. POC MediaAlas Pilipinas Men capped their preliminary round campaign in the 20th Asian Games Aichi-Nagoya 2026 with a 25-21, 20-25, 17-25, 27-29 loss to Chinese Taipei, Tuesday at Park Arena Komaki.

It was a valiant effort for the embattled group, which even nailed Set 1 to claim its first set win in the preliminaries, but ultimately fell short after four frames.

Chinese Taipei needed five match points in Set 4 to secure the win, as Jude Garcia and Joshua Magalaman breathed life into Alas, coupled by the opposing side’s errors, but a Yu-Sheng Chang sharp spike on Bryan Bagunas’ block ultimately handed the Filipino spikers the loss.

Just like Alas Women, the Bagunas-captained squad will continue its Asian Games run in the classification round, after going winless in Pool D in three matches.

Bagunas expectedly led the offensive charge with 17 points on 13 attacks, two blocks, and two aces, while Magalaman asserted his will on the net, tallying five kill rejections en route to a 16-point total.

Leo Ordiales added eight markers, while Marck Espejo contributed six points.