PH national men's volleyball team member Jao Umandal to play as import in Bahrain

Another Filipino athlete is taking his act abroad.

National team standout Jao Umandal is headed to Bahrain to play as import for Bani Jamra, making him the third Philippine national men's volleyball team member to suit up as an import overseas.

In a social media post, Virtual Playground, who handles the career of the former UST outside hitter, said that Umandal is set to leave today to join his new team.

"Joshua Umandal departs today to Bahrain as he is chosen to play for Bani Jamra Volleyball Club. Goodluck Joshua Umandal!" read the post.

"We are proud of you."

The 22-year-old Umandal was a solid force for the UST Tiger Spikers in the UAAP and he started to gain more prominence when he joined the national team that finished with a silver medal in the 2019 SEA Games.

Although the power hitter was seldom used in the previous biennial meet, Umandal powered the nationals to a ninth place finish in the 2021 Asian Men's Club Volleyball Championship.

Umandal follows in the footsteps of Marck Espejo and Bryan Bagunas to play as imports. Incidentally, Bani Jamra was also a team that Espejo played for in 2020.

Espejo and Bagunas are currently suiting up for FC Tokyo and Oita Miyoshi, respectively, in Japan V. League.

—JMB, GMA News