WHILE other Filipino athletes are scrambling to qualify for the Paris Olympic Games next month, tennis bet Alex Eala is not among them.
And this may lead to local sports fans wondering why.
Competing in the French capital during the centennial jubilee of the country’s Olympic participation would have completed Eala’s sports resume after seeing action in the 2021 Vietnam Southeast Asian Games and the 19th Hangzhou Asian Games last year.
Through no fault of her own, the 19-year-old Pinay ace is ineligible to compete for a slot in the Paris Games due to the intramurals that rocked the Philippine Tennis Association.
This was only resolved through the election of Paranaque Mayor Eric Olivarez as Philta president last December.
Currently ranked 169th in the Women’s Tennis Association, Eala lacks one of the prerequisites in the tennis Olympic qualifying process — competing in the Billie Jean King Cup, the world women’s team event formerly known as the Federation Cup, from 2022 to 2024.
The Philippines failed to participate in the meet, as well as the Davis Cup, after Philta was suspended by the International Tennis Federation due to the leadership row within the association.
By the time Olivarez was elected and the suspension was lifted, the Olympic window of opportunity had closed, depriving Eala of the potential chance of seeing action in the glamorous French capital as a member of the Philippine Olympic squad.
Only the top 56 players in both the Women’s Tennis Association and Association of Tennis Professionals (for men) at the ITF cut-off date last June 10 are qualified to play in the Olympics on top of taking part in two team world competitions.
Had Philta been an ITF member of good standing and allowed to field teams in the Billie Jean King Cup, the pretty southpaw might have had extra motivation in rising in the ratings with an Olympic slot looming over the horizon.
