Alex Eala not penalized for Asian Games participation, says PHILTA

The Philippine Tennis Association (PHILTA) on Thursday said there were no penalties from the Women’s Tennis Association (WTA) for Alex Eala after skipping the ongoing WTA1000 China Open to compete in the Asian Games.

In the Senate’s Committee on Sports’ post-evaluation of the Asian Games, PHILTA executive director Tonette Mendoza said she has talked to the WTA about Eala’s decision.

When asked directly if Eala was penalized, Mendoza shook her head.

Mendoza said PHILTA had communicated previously with the WTA regarding Eala’s decision to represent the Philippines.

“Actually, from the beginning, first we asked Alex if she was willing to join, and she made the decision on her own that she wanted to represent the country,” Mendoza told the committee.

“So we asked the WTA if they could waive any of the penalties that they may impose on her. The WTA just asked us a few questions: if she made the decision on her own, meaning it was not under pressure from anybody in the government or the national federation, and if it is an Olympic qualifier for our country, to which we said yes, she made a decision on her own and it's an Olympic qualifier. And then they just never got back to us.”

“Reading the rules of the WTA, the penalties and whatever points when you miss a mandatory tournament are assigned for players who omit these tournaments because they want to play an exhibition. It’s silent on representing the country… World Tennis, the ITF, I met with them last week, they were very supportive of players representing their country and skipping a mandatory tournament.”

Eala bagged the bronze medal in the Asian Games singles tournament and is expected to return to the tour by next week for the Wuhan Open.

—Justin Kenneth Carandang/JMB, GMA News