Overachievement.
That’s how tennis star Alex Eala described their performance after winning the bronze medal in the mixed doubles of tennis competitions on Friday at the 19th Asian Games in Hangzhou, China.
“If overachievement is a thing, then we have the potential to do more,” said the 18-year-old Eala after the game.
Eala and partner Francis Alcantara lost to Taiwanese Liang En-Shuo and Huang Tsung-hao, 5-7, 3-6, in their thrilling semifinal duel, but it was enough to secure a bronze medal.
In advancing to the semifinals, Alcantara and Eala defeated their Nepalese opponents, stunning the top-seeded Indian team in the Round-of-16, and besting the Thais in the quarterfinals.
This made them the first PH team to win a mixed doubles medal since Patricia Yngayo and Federico Deyro captured the silver medal in the 1966 edition.
But for Eala, it was doubly significant as she joined an exclusive club of multiple medal winners in a single edition.
Eala reached the medal round with a stunning 0-6, 7-5, 6-0 victory over Japanese Kyoka Okamura on Wednesday, ending the country’s 17-year medal drought in tennis.
She also pushed the No. 1 seed and US Open quarterfinalist Zheng Qinwen of China to her limit before bowing, 1-6, 7-6 (7-5), 3-6, in their semifinal duel on Thursday.
