Alas Pilipinas Men ended their 2026 Asian Games pool-play campaign without a victory after falling to Chinese Taipei, 25-21, 20-25, 17-25, 27-29, on Tuesday in Japan.
The Philippines started strongly and claimed the opening set, but Chinese Taipei rallied to take the next two frames. Alas mounted another comeback attempt in the fourth set, saving four match points and forcing the score to 27-all before Chinese Taipei closed out the match with back-to-back kills.
Bryan Bagunas led the Philippines with 17 points from 13 attacks, two blocks and two aces. Joshua Magalaman added 16 points, while Leo Ordiales finished with eight.
The loss gave Alas a 0-3 record in Pool D after earlier straight-set defeats to South Korea and China. The Filipinos also struggled with errors, committing 26 miscues against Chinese Taipei after recording 23 errors against South Korea and 27 against China.
With the pool stage completed, Alas Pilipinas will move into the classification round. South Korea and China advanced to the quarterfinals from Pool D, while Chinese Taipei will also continue in the classification phase.
Despite the winless pool campaign, the team will have another opportunity to compete in the Asian Games as it begins its classification-round schedule on Thursday.
