For their endearing exploits in their respective sports, tennis sensation Alex Eala and top Filipinas striker Sarina Bolden are the joint Athletes of the Year of the inaugural Women in Sports Awards that will be held on Wednesday, March 20, at the Rizal Memorial Coliseum.
A winner of the Australian and French Open junior doubles plums and a US Open junior singles crown in 2022, the globe-hopping Eala highlighted her flourishing career with a pair of bronze medals in the women’s singles and mixed doubles in the 19th Hangzhou Asian Games last October.
The pretty 18-year-old southpaw has also won four titles and two runner-up finishes as a pro on the ITF Women’s World Tennis Tour and currently boasts a career-high of No. 176 in ITF women ratings.
Bolden has been the offensive linchpin of the Filipinas over the last six years, appearing in 44 international matches and scoring 28 goals since making her debut with the national women’s football team in 2018.
The awards night designed to honor the nation’s top women athletes and women sport heroes was conceptualized by the Philippine Sports Commission-Women In Sports under the office of PSC Commissioner Olivia “Bong” Coo.
n 2021, Bolden powered the Filipinas in securing their first FIFA World Cup appearance in reaching the semifinals of the AFC Women’s Cup in India in January then led them to the AFF Women’s Championship at the Rizal Memorial Stadium a few months later.
In PH side’s World Cup debut, she scored the “shot” heard around the world – a hammering header in lifting the Filipinas to a monumental 1-0 upset of the New Zealand Ferns in front of a stunned hometown crowd at the Sky Stadium in Wellington on July 25, 2023.
