PNVF appoints Bundit as new Alas coach; PH misses Asian Championship cut

Tai Bundit guided the Criss Cross King Crunchers to their first-ever Spiker's Turf title in the 2025 Invitational Conference against Japan's Kindai University. (Photo: Spiker's Turf)

Thai mentor Tai Bundit has been tapped by the Philippine National Volleyball Federation (PNVF) as head coach of the Philippine women's national volleyball team, popularly known as Alas Pilipinas.

PNVF Pres. Tony Boy Liao confirmed the development to the Tiebreaker Times, a local sports media outlet, on Friday, Feb. 6.

“Coach Tai was appointed as head coach of the Alas Women’s team last night (Thursday, Feb. 5) by the PNVF Executive Board,” said Liao.

Bundit will succeed Brazilian tactician Jorge Souza de Brito, whose contract expired last December.

De Brito, the current Capital1 Solar Spikers coach, concluded his coaching stint for the Philippines with a podium-less finish in the 2025 Southeast Asian (SEA) Games, which further stretched the country’s medal drought in the biennial meet to 20 years.

He has called the shots for the nationals since 2021. Under his guidance, the Philippines bagged historic silver and bronze medals in the 2025 and 2024 editions of the Asian Volleyball Confederation (AVC) Nations Cup, formerly known as the Challenge Cup. 

Bundit is no stranger to mentoring Alas Pilipinas after serving as a deputy of former national team head coach Roger Gorayeb during the 2015 SEA Games. 

It wasn’t the first time that he handled a national team as Bundit spearheaded the Thailand women’s volleyball squad, which finished fourth in the 2006 Asian Games. 

At the club level, Bundit is the current head coach of the Criss Cross King Crunchers, who recently lifted their first Spiker’s Turf trophy after ruling the 2025 Invitational Conference. He also guided Creamline Cool Smashers to three Premier Volleyball League crowns from 2017 to 2021.

In 2023, he led the Nakhon Ratchasima to both men’s and women’s titles in the Volleyball Thailand League.

First task: Nations Cup glory

The Philippines reached its first-ever continental tournament finals in the 2025 AVC Women's Nations Cup, bagging the silver medal. (Photo: AVC)

Bundit's coaching journey begins at the Nations Cup to be hosted by the Philippines in Candon, Ilocos Sur from June 6 to 14.

But it comes with a tricky twist.

Liao revealed that he will have to stick with the lineup his predecessor, De Brito, had formed for last year's SEA Games due to the potential logistical problem in building a new squad from scratch.

“Unfortunately, he has to use the Alas team that played in the last SEA Games because there’s no more time for him to create a new team. After the Candon event, he will have the chance to select and create his team,” he said, as quoted by the Daily Tribune.

It should be noted that the Premier Volleyball League (PVL) All-Filipino Conference just started last January and will run until April. The University Athletic Association of the Philippines (UAAP), meanwhile, will open on February 14 and is expected to end by mid-May.

In recent years, most national team players have come from PVL and the UAAP.

Bundit, meanwhile, was given the power to select his coaching staff.

“He will have a free hand to choose his coaching staff,” said Liao.

Why does the Nations Cup matter?

Outside hitter Bella Belen went for a tip against Kazakhstan's blockers during the 2025 AVC Women's Nations Cup preliminaries. (Photo: AVC)

Over the past two years, the Philippines reached new heights in Asian volleyball with historic campaigns in the Nations Cup.

In 2024, when the continental tiff was still branded as the Challenge Cup, Alas Pilipinas captured the country’s first-ever medal in an AVC tournament. The Philippines was among the founders of the confederation in 1952.

Last year, they made their first finals appearance in a continental-level meet, only to fall against eventual and now three-time champion Vietnam.

ALSO READ: De Brito credits Alas’ AVC silver to trust

This year, the Nations Cup is among the few international competitions where Alas Pilipinas will see action.

The nationals missed their chance to compete for spots in the 2027 FIVB Women’s Volleyball World Championship and the 2028 Olympic Games after failing to qualify for the 2026 Asian Women's Volleyball Continental Championships via the three possible routes: automatic/direct qualification, world rankings, and zonal qualifiers.

If only the Philippines won the 2025 AVC Nations Cup, it could have earned a direct entry alongside China as host nation and Thailand as reigning Asian champion.

Alas, world no. 46, also fell short in terms of rankings as four other Asian nations without automatic/direct qualification are still ahead of them as of January 1, 2026, particularly Japan (5), Kazakhstan (35), Chinese Taipei (37), and South Korea (40).

The final nail in the coffin for the Philippines was losing to Indonesia in the battle for bronze in the 2025 SEA Games, which served as a zonal qualifier for the Southeast Asian Volleyball Association (SAVA). As mentioned earlier, Thailand qualified for the Asian Championship as defending champion, while Vietnam topped the 2025 Nations Cup. 

According to Volleytrails, an independent volleyball digital content creator, the biennial meet was designated by SAVA as the qualifying tournament for the Asian Continental Championship despite not being an official FIVB event.

“It is not unfair, as SAVA members, including the PNVF, were part of the decision, and it was made well before the SEA Games even began,” Volleytrails replied to a netizen, who lamented the decision, in a thread in X.

With the Nations Cup, as well as the annual SEA V.League, around the corner, all hope is not lost. These tournaments guarantee ranking points and provide the essential international experience that Alas Pilipinas needs.

Now, the question is if Bundit and his wards have what it takes to win the Philippines' first AVC title this coming June, or at the bare minimum, stay on the podium.