PSA to honor Athletes of the Year Yulo, Eala

GYMNAST Carlos "Caloy" Yulo and netter Alexandra "Alex" Eala are set to be recognized as the male and female Athletes of the Year at the San Miguel Corporation-Philippine Sportswriters Association (PSA) Annual Awards Night at the Diamond Hotel Manila Monday.

This marks the first time in 22 years the PSA named a male and female co-Athletes of the Year since boxing great Manny Pacquiao and golfer Jennifer Rosales shared the honor back in 2004.

Yulo's sustained excellence after his double gold run at the Paris Olympics and Eala's breakout season at the Women's Tennis Association (WTA) tour last year made them the perfect choice for the joint award.

This is the second time the 25-year-old Yulo will be hailed as the PSA Athlete of the Year after claiming the honor solo last year.

On the other hand, this is the first time the 20-year-old Eala will seize the top award for Filipino athletes given by PSA factoring the year that has passed.

“Their exemplary performances on the international stage, and more importantly, the way they have inspired countless young athletes to chase their own path for greatness, are enough reasons to crown both Alex and Carlos as the year’s top performers in sports,” said PSA president Francis Ochoa, sports editor of the Philippine Daily Inquirer.

Yulo showed no signs of slowing down after his unprecedented double-gold run in Paris, winning a fourth straight gold medal in the floor exercise of the Asian Artistic Gymnastics Championships in South Korea.

The 4-foot-11 dynamo also bagged a bronze each in parallel bars, vault, and individual all-around in the tiff.

The vibrant gymnast from Leveriza, Manila then made his way back to the FIG Artistic Gymnastics World Championships in Indonesia, where he copped the top honor in vault and snared a bronze in floor exercise during the 53rd edition of the meet.

Meanwhile, Eala set here WTA Tour breakout year in motion in a historic campaign at the Miami Open, where she reached the semifinals as a wild card entry.

Ranked No. 140 at that time, Eala cracked the top 100 by beating former French Open champion Jelena Ostapenko in the second round, Australian Open titlist and No. 5 Madison Keys in the third round, and stunning five-time grand slam champ and world No. 2 Iga Swiatek in the quarterfinals.

The Cinderella run came to an end in the semis when she lost against American Jessica Pegula, but Eala had already served notice and put the Philippines on the tennis map.

Eala then became the first Filipino in the Open era to play in the Wimbledon singles main draw, finally won a first-ever singles title in the WTA during the Guadalajara 125 Open in Mexico, and scored a Grand Slam breakthrough as the first from the Philippines in the Open era to win a match in the US Open against 14th seed Clara Tauson.

Eala ended her season by reaching a then career-best 50th in the WTA rankings and brought more pride to the Philippines after snaring a gold medal at the 33rd Southeast Asian Games in Thailand, ending a 26-year Philippine gold drought in women's singles play.

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