Alex Eala’s father Michael did not mince his words regarding the Philippine Sports Commission’s claim that it supported the young tennister for her tournaments abroad.
“In the wake of a great run of Alex at Roland Garros, the French Open, it is sad to see that agencies claim to support athletes with millions of pesos inspite of not having given a single centavo yet,” read the Eala patriarch’s post.
A day after Alex, 15, bowed out of the 2020 French Open, the official Facebook page of the PSC made a congratulatory post.
In the lengthy message, it stated that besides the strong support system given by the agency, the PSC backed Alex with PHP three-million for her tournament travels and two-month training abroad.
Moreover, it added that they also allotted PHP 1.5-million for her six internationals tournaments played since January of 2020. It claimed that the Philippine Tennis Association requested it from the PSC.
“We are happy to be part of her journey,” said PSC Chairman Butch Ramirez in the post.
Michael then debunked the statement. He and his wife Rizza are the ones funding the travels and training of both Alex and son Michael Francis II, who is also a rising star in tennis.
Michael is a successful entrepreneur, while Rizza is the Chief Finance Officer of Globe Telecom.
“Raising our kids in highly competitive tennis, we always teach them that the spirit of each sport is fair play. I think it’s safe to say that it should apply to individuals as well as agencies,” expressed Michael.
“Just to clarify, PSC has mentioned that they will support Alex, but we haven’t received any amount yet.”
The post of the PSC has since been deleted.
Alex finished in the semifinals of the Grand Slam tournament held in Paris — the highest finish for a Filipino in the tournament in 35 years.
