JAKARTA - Indonesian men's volleyball national team coach Reidel Alfonso Toiran encourages his children to be able to reach the final round in the 2026 Asian Games multi-branch sports festival held in Japan.
He conveyed this after leading his team to defeat the Philippines and reach the semifinals of the 2026 SEA V Cup round two which took place at the Jakarta International Velodrome, Rawamangun, East Jakarta, on Friday, July 24, 2026.
"I always tell the players that we have to dare to dream of reaching the final. It is indeed a dream, but now the players are starting to believe that they are capable. That makes our job as coaches easier because their enthusiasm is very high," said Toiran.
The draw results for the 2026 Asian Games group stage put the Garuda squad in an easy group. Farhan Halim and his colleagues are in Group B with giants Iran, Thailand, and Kyrgyzstan.
Toiran said that the four-year sports festival of Asian countries was not an easy stage for Indonesia, but it was not impossible for his team to improve on the achievements obtained from the previous edition.
"The Asian Games are a much higher level of competition. Therefore, our preparations must be sharper, physical condition must be stronger, and the team composition must also be more solid," said the coach born on October 31, 1984.
In the 2022 edition of the Asian Games in Hangzhou, the Indonesian men's team carved a pretty impressive record. At that time, the Garuda team successfully advanced from the group stage with the status as runner-up Pool F before finally finishing in eighth place overall.
The men's team's chances of qualifying for the next round are very open. The runner-up status can still be obtained because it is quite impossible to win against Iran given their status as one of the world's volleyball powers.
To be able to become runners-up, the key to Indonesia lies in the crucial match against Thailand and Kyrgyzstan. Both of these forces on paper should be a match that goes fairly evenly.
The 2026 Asian Games, which will be held in Aichi-Nagoya, will run from September 19 to October 4. Indonesia so far has set a target of securing four gold medals.
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