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FILE – Filipino player Bryan Bagunas during the 2019 SEA Games against Vietnam. INQUIRER PHOTO/August dela Cruz
MANILA, Philippines – Bryan Bagunas will miss the Philippine men’s volleyball team at the Cambodia Southeast Asian Games in May for the first time in six years because he is getting married in June.
The 6-foot-5 outside spiker told Inquirer Sports that she had informed the Philippine National Volleyball Federation on Thursday of her resignation from the national team.
“I want to get married because if I get married there are still preparations. It’s not just about getting married because I still have a seminar to attend, so I’ll be there in April and it seems like it’s very difficult to fit in because marriage is important for everyone, isn’t it,” Bagunas said on the phone.
(I’m getting married soon and there will be a lot of preparation. The wedding requires a lot of seminars and I will be coming to the Philippines in April. It will be difficult for me to make time. [for the national team]. Marriage is important to everyone.)
“I want to give 100 percent to our special event because this is a once-in-a-lifetime event,” he added in Filipino.
The 25-year-old Bagunas said the PNVF acknowledged receiving his letter.
The former UAAP MVP, who has represented the country since the 2017 SEA Games, got engaged to his longtime girlfriend Nicole Tracy Tan on April 22 last year.
Bagunas said that begging from the national team had nothing to do with the dismissal of coach Dante Alinsunurin, insisting that he is willing to play for whoever will handle the squad.
In fact, the former National University star told Alinsunurin and his staff that his participation in the biennial meeting was not certain because of his marriage.
“I said [the PNVF] It’s not safe from coach Dante. Actually, after I proposed and when we had set the wedding date, I immediately told coach Dante [my availability] The next SEA Games is 50:50,” said Bagunas. “I respect coach Odjie [Mamon] and other coaches. I am willing to play whoever will coach the team. It’s just that the wedding is in June.”
“I hope the PNVF understands,” he said. “I also wrote in my letter that after the wedding and that there will be a tournament for the national team. I am willing to serve in the Philippines as long as I am available but now, it is difficult to make time. This is once in a lifetime.”
Bagunas is currently in Taiwan playing for a Win Streak in the Top Volleyball League until March. He has also committed to play for Imus in the 2023 Turf Spikers.
Sources announced a 19-man training pool, which includes Bagunas. But the PNVF said in a statement last Tuesday that nothing was official and that it would make an announcement about the list.
Odjie Mamon was selected as Alinsunurin’s interim replacement with Brazilian coach Sergio Veloso set to take over after the SEA Games.
Bagunas, a former Japanese V.League import, expressed his support for the national team, hoping to make it to the podium even without him.
“I wish you all the best. Even if I won’t be there to play, I give my full support to the Philippines as a Filipino. Philippine volleyball is not just for one person, but for everyone. Whatever team will reach this SEA Games for the entire volleyball community and our country,” Bagunas said.
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