TWO budding protégés in tennis and chess have been chosen as the Milo Junior Male and Female Athlete of the Year in the San Miguel Corp.-Philippine Sportswriters Association (PSA) Annual Awards Night at the Centennial Hall of the Manila Hotel.
Tennis player Alexandra Eala and chess wizard Daniel Quizon are the latest recipients of the award traditionally handed out by Milo in partnership with the country’s oldest media organization.
Eala is 13 years old and formerly from Colegio de San Agustin who earned a full-time scholarship at the Rafael Nadal Academy in Spain where she is an eighth grader.
The highlight of her 2018 campaign came in France where she won the Les Petits As, earning for her a wild card in the Roland Garros Junior French Championships.
Quizon is 14 from Dasmariñas, Cavite. He earned an International Master title after ruling the Eastern Asian Juniors Open Championships in South Korea.
Although he finished only second to compatriot John Marvin Miciano in the Asian Youth Championships in Chiang Mai, Thailand, Quizon made a ripple in the tournament after he stunned top seed Tran Tuan Minh of Vietnam in the second round.
Both Eala and Quizon’s feats were earned through hard work and discipline and at the same time, are living proofs that great things start from small beginnings.
As Milo Junior Male and Female Athletes of the Year, both will be receiving a year’s supply of Milo products.
At the same time, PSA President’s Awardee National University Lady Bulldogs will receive the first-ever Milo Nutri Up Your Galing Recognition during the February 26 event also presented by Milo, the Philippine Sports Commission and Cignal TV.
The unbeaten Lady Bulldogs will be cited for their excellence in displaying adult level energy to ensure claiming their fifth straight University Athletic Association of the Philippines women’s basketball championship. For their feat, the entire team will also receive a month’s supply of Milo Nutri Up for adults.
Eala and Quizon will join 73 others in the year’s honor roll bannered by co-Athlete of the Year winners Hidilyn Diaz, Margielyn Didal and golfers Yuka Saso, Bianca Pagdanganan and Lois Kaye Go.