Posted by ReyFort Media
The Philippines has its biggest Asian Games contingent in more than three decades, with more than 450 athletes set to compete across 38 sports as the 20th Asiad unfolds in Aichi-Nagoya, Japan.
Eala ousts Garland, Obiena secures gold
SUSTAINING her gold-medal quest, Filipina pride Alex Eala raised her form a notch in the second set, sweeping past Chinese-Taipei’s Joanna Garland 7-5, 6-0 yesterday to enter the women’s singles semifinals of the 20th Aichi-Nagoya Asian Games netfest in Nagoya, Japan.
Finally getting to play outdoors in sunny weather at the Higashiyama Tennis Park Center Court after two straight days of continuous rain, Eala blitzed Garland in stringing up eight straight games from the opening set to settle the issue in one hour and 49 minutes in front of a delighted predominantly Filipino crowd.
UNDER wet conditions due to a drizzly Tuesday evening, Ernest John “EJ” Obiena still claimed his second straight men’s pole vault title in the 20th Asian Games in Japan.
The Filipino pole vault ace did it in a record-setting fashion at the Nagoya City Mizuho Park Athletic Stadium.
Obiena secured the gold medal after Chinese Yao Jie and Li Chenyang struck out at 5.75 m which the Philippine bet cleared in just one try.
The 30-year-old decided to post a new meet record and successfully did so with a 5.91-meter (m) clearance, surpassing the 5.90-m height he aced in the previous edition in Hangzhou, China, back in 2023.
Obiena thus gave the Philippines its third overall gold in the ongoing meet following gymnast Carlos Yulo’s floor exercise and vault titles.
CAPTION: Team Philippines at the Asian Games: How many medals will the athletes win at Aichi-Nagoya 2026? Mark Ron Castañeda for ESPN
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