By KRISTEL SATUMBAGA
Philippine sports continue to enjoy the blessing of sporting gods as several Filipinos scored landmark wins, thus making 2025 another great year.
From Alex Eala’s breakthrough season at the Women’s Tennis Association to several milestone victories by Team Philippines at the 33rd Southeast Asian Games in Thailand, there was no shortage of heroes and big moments.
Alexandra The Great
Eala’s emergence as one of the players to watch on WTA scene stands as one of the big moments of PH sports this year. Starting the season ranked No. 158, the Filipina tennis sensation captured the imagination of a nation looking for a new tennis star after a head-turning run at the Miami Open in March, where she stunned former Grand Slam champions Jelena Ostapenko, Madison Keys and Iga Swiatek en route to a semifinal finish.
She went on to capture her first WTA singles title at the Guadalajara Open — the first Filipina to do so — while also earning her first main-draw victory at the US Open. Eala closed the year ranked No. 53, showing no signs of slowing down.
Yulo family affair in gymnastics
Paris Olympics double gold medalist Carlos Yulo continues to shine by capturing the vault gold medal and floor exercise bronze at the FIG Artistic Gymnastics World Championships, bringing his overall haul to three gold, two silver and three bronze medals since first joining the world class tournament in 2018.
Prior to that, he also bagged the floor exercise gold, and bronze medals in all-around, vault and parallel bars at the Asian Championships in Jecheon, South Korea.
Not soon after, his younger brother Karl Eldrew Yulo also made waves at the Junior Worlds that the country hosted in Pasay City, winning the bronze medal in the floor exercise and horizontal bar.
Billiards superpower
The country has firmly maintained its status as a global epicenter of billiards. At 42, Carlo Biado became the first Filipino to win the World 9-Ball Championship twice, securing his second title with a victory over Fedor Gorst in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, last July.
Not to be outdone, Chezka Centeno followed suit a few months later, capturing the World Women’s 10-Ball Championship by defeating fellow world champion and close friend Rubilen Amit in Bali, Indonesia.
Centeno came close to another world title — in 8-ball, this time — but settled for the runner-up honors to Austrian Jasmin Ouschan.
PH curling breaks the ice
The Philippine men’s curling team made history last February by winning the country’s first Asian Winter Games medal.
Composed of Marc and Enrico Pfister, Christian Haller, Alan Frei and Benjo Delarmente, the Filipinos edged South Korea, 5-3, for the historic win.
The triumph further bolstered its ambitious goal of qualifying for next year’s Winter Olympics in Italy.
Million-peso boost to PH sports program
In another positive news, the Supreme Court denied the Philippine Amusement and Gaming Corporation’s appeal on its previous ruling to remit the full amount of five percent of gross income to the Philippine Sports Commission from 1993 to the present.
The decision affirmed its ruling on Yeng Guiao’s petition back when the Rain or Shine coach was still a congressman for Pampanga’s first district in 2016.
Guiao embraced the decision as “a victory for Philippine sports,” adding that it is a “long overdue justice for our athletes and sports grassroots programs.”
For years, Pagcor interpreted the law that created the PSC differently, remitting five percent of its net income (or 2.5 percent of its gross income) to the government sports agency, citing a Pagcor memorandum dated Nov. 5, 1993 and Feb. 20, 1995.
The memorandum has been declared void by the Supreme Court as part of the order.
Tabuena defends home turf
Miguel Tabuena held down the fort after winning the International Series Philippines at the Sta. Elena Golf and Country Club.
What began as a humble goal — to give his best effort and learn from the finest players in the field — turned into something much more for Tabuena, who ruled the $2 million tournament by three strokes against some of the finest in the field that included runners-up Sarit Suwannarut and Sampson Zheng.
PH men’s volleyball breaks through
With the country’s grand hosting of the FIVB Men’s Volleyball World Championship comes Alas Pilipinas historic appearance in the said global stage.
Making the most out of their wildcard entry, the Filipino spikers defied the odds and finished with a 1-2 win-loss record at the end of the group stage, highlighted by a milestone four-set victory against African champion Egypt.
The Nationals eventually finished 19th, and also emerged as the second-best Asian team in the 32-nation tournament, finishing just behind Iran — the only Asian squad to reach the knockout Round of 16.
Challenging but fruitful SEAG
Team Philippines may not have surpassed its previous gold-medal haul of 58 at the recent 33rd Southeast Asian Games in Thailand by bringing home only 50, but it produced milestone triumphs in several sports.
The Philippine women’s football team known as the Filipinas captured the country’s first-ever gold medal in the regional meet after shocking powerhouse Vietnam in na dramatic shootout, even as the women’s beach volleyball, led by Sisi Rondina, Bernadeth Pons, Dij Rodriguez, and Sunny Villapando, also bagged a historic gold after ending Thailand’s eight-edition reign.
Kayla Sanchez also anchored the PH swimming team particularly in the women’s 4×100-meter freestyle relay where they bagged the gold, with the Fil-Canadian becoming the most bemedaled swimmer for the PH delegation with three gold and five silver medals.
Filipinos also continued their dominance in basketball, baseball and softball.
Overall, Team PH also reaped 73 silver and 144 bronze medals.
Redemption year in college hoops
De La Salle, University of Santo Tomas and San Beda regained lost glory in the UAAP and NCAA men’s and women’s basketball tournament.
Haunted by a finals defeat last season, the Green Archers rebounded mightily and dethroned the University of the Philippines Maroons in the pivotal Game 3 of their UAAP men’s cage wars.
It was the team’s 11th overall title and second in three years, achieving it despite injury woes and suspensions.
Like La Salle, the San Beda Red Lions bared their fangs and ruled the NCAA men’s basketball at the expense of long-time rival Letran.
Beaten by College of St. Benilde in there semis last year, the Mendiola-based squad turned the setback into motivation to reclaim its position as the No. 1 team in the NCAA.
The UST Tigresses likewise reclaimed the UAAP women’s basketball throne by getting back at National University Lady Bulldogs.
So add these stories of redemption to a bevy of landmark triumph, thus making 2025 another great year — sporting-wise.
