NAGOYA — Alex Eala has been confirmed to receive 400,000 Philippine pesos, approximately $6,378.77, for winning bronze in the women's singles at the Asian Games in Nagoya, Japan, after skipping the China Open at the risk of a fine of up to $10,000 to represent the Philippines.
The world No.18 entered the draw as top seed and was bidding for gold but was beaten in the semi-finals by eventual gold medallist Xiyu Wang, repeating the bronze she won at the 2022 Asian Games. While there is no official prize money for tennis at the Asian Games, former Wimbledon semi-finalist Alexandra Stevenson reported in the latest edition of her podcast that many federations incentivise medallists financially, with the Philippine Sports Commission rewarding its athletes directly.
“Athletes do not receive direct cash prize money from the Olympic council of Asia for winning medals at the Asian Games,” said Stevenson. “While the organisers do not offer a prize purse, many participating countries reward their medallists with substantial government-backed financial incentives. For the Philippines, gold medallists receive two million in Filipino money (Philippine pesos), silver medallists receive one million in Filipino money, and bronze medallists receive 400,000 through the Philippine sports commission.” The bronze reward cancels out a significant portion of the potential China Open penalty.
Eala will now look to move on at the Wuhan Open, the final WTA 1000 tournament of the season, where the main draw gets underway on Monday, 12 October. She has never won a match at the tournament in either the main draw or qualifying, having lost in the first round of qualifying last year, but will feature this year as one of the seeded players in the main draw as she looks to improve on her career-high ranking of world No.18.