Pinoys all in for Eala

MANILA, Philippines — They’re all in. PSC. POC. PHILTA. The Senate. All behind Alex Eala.

Eala, 21, world No. 18 and the hottest ticket in women’s tennis today, has chosen Nagoya over Beijing. Asian Games tennis starts Sept. 27 at Higashiyama Park while the China Open, a mandatory WTA 1000 for Top 30 players, starts Sept. 30. Skip it and it’s an automatic $10,000 fine plus a damaging zero-pointer.

But Eala is determined to play for flag and country, and the nation is behind her.

“We can always say Alex is giving back to her country, to the support of Filipinos in the country and wherever she competes – they have amazingly established that global ‘Eala mania’,” said POC president Bambol Tolentino. “The WTA has its rules and breaking the rules has penalties. But Alex will be in Nagoya, for flag and country.”

PSC chairman Patrick Gregorio was just as firm: “Para sa bayan ito at malinaw ito sa isip at puso ni Alex. She is the epitome of a world-class Filipino athlete. Para sa bayan, laging lalaban.”

PHILTA secretary-general John Rey Tiangco confirmed the official appeal for exemption has been filed with the WTA, with PSC and POC in close coordination. Senators Bong Go and Erwin Tulfo have stepped in, asking the WTA to recognize the exceptional circumstance.

“Hindi dapat parusahan ang atleta dahil pinili niyang katawanin ang bandila,” said Go, who chairs the Senate sports committee.

Tulfo added government should be ready to cover the fine if imposed: “It is a price worth paying for the honor.”

Eala won bronze in Hangzhou in 2023 behind Qinwen Zheng and Zhu Lin – both absent in Nagoya – and now guns for the country’s first Asian Games tennis gold since Johnny Jose in Jakarta in 1962.