A busy 2023

This New Year will be jampacked with sporting events, keeping national and pro athletes busy, and fans satiated at pre-pandemic levels. We will still have the backbone of the NBA and PBA, and world-title campaigns by Filipino professional boxers scattered throughout the calendar. But there are some big headline events throughout 2023.

This month, Alex Eala makes her Grand Slam debut as a professional in the Australian Open qualifiers. The 17-year-old Filipino is ranked No. 215 in the Women’s Tennis Association (WTA) rankings, which served as the basis for her making the cut.
“I made the cut for the Qualifying Rounds of the Australian Open 2023 in Melbourne! This will be my first match ever in the pro-level of a Grand Slam,” Eala wrote in her social media ac-counts.

The Rafael Nadal Academy product is the first Filipino tennis player to win a singles Grand Slam title, beating World No. 3 Lucie Havlickova of the Czech Republic in the 2022 US Open girls final in September.

On May 5, Cambodia hosts its first-ever Southeast Asian Games, and the ASEAN Para Games a month and a half later. The Cambodia SEA Games Organizing Committee (CAMSOC) held a meeting on Dec. 20 to check on progress of venues, accommodations and other requirements for the games. Though there has been some controversy surrounding the selection of events for countries participating in the biennial event, CAMSOC has promised that it will ensure that everyone attending will be treated with utmost fairness and hospitality.

Starting July 20, Australia and New Zealand host the FIFA Women’s World Cup. The ninth edition will feature 32 national teams for the first time, including the Philippines and European champion England. The Filipinas will be in Group A with New Zealand, Norway and Switzerland. Argentina, Brazil, Canada, China, Colombia, Costa Rica, Denmark, France, Germany, Italy, Jamaica, Japan, Korea, Morocco, the Netherlands, Nigeria, Ireland, South Africa, Spain, Sweden, the USA, Vietnam and Zambia have also qualified. It will be a new, exciting experience for Philippine football fans.

The FIBA World Cup starts on Aug. 25, co-hosted by Japan, Indonesia and the Philippines. Asian qualifiers end in February. So far, five of the seven continental slots have been filled by Australia, New Zealand, Lebanon, Japan, and the Philippines. Team USA, which will be bannered by NBA players, will play exclusively in the Philippines. This is considered an advantage for the Americans, since they have a huge “home crowd” here, and will gain familiar with the venue. Team Canada will see action in Jakarta, Indonesia, while Luka Doncic and Slovenia will open their campaign in Okinawa, Japan. This is the first time three countries will share hosting duties for a FIBA World Cup.
Also at the end of August, the World Athletics Championship will be staged in Budapest, Hungary. World No. 3 pole vaulter EJ Obiena is aiming to peak and take the final leap to being the world’s best beginning Aug. 21. A great number of national athletes will also be scrambling to make it through the qualifiers for the Paris Olympics. Other sports aside from turbulent boxing and weightlifting are hoping to get a shot at Olympic medals. It will be a busy year for the Filipino athletes.