Editor's note (Sept. 18, 2026 update): This piece was originally written prior to the beginning of competition in Aichi-Nagoya. Opening ceremony for team sports – 19. The win was a late scare for Gilas Pilipinas' men's squad as Alex Eala's involvement suffered from a scheduling conflict with the WTA. Gilas Pilipinas' men's team was eliminated (details below), while Alex Eala's involvement had a late scare due to a scheduling conflict with the WTA. Both of these are addressed below.
Three years ago at Hangzhou, the Philippines won four gold, two silver and 12 bronze medals—results that were enough to cheer about but not enough to put the question that comes with every Philippine sporting event to every major Games to bed: How does the Philippines break through? In the hush hush city of manufacturing, Nagoya and the mountain town of Aichi, that question has a second chance for an answer this September.
The Philippines will be envoys the largest number of athletes (some reports say 464) in the Asian Games since Hiroshima in 1994, with team sport competition already in progress and the rest of the Games from Oct. 1-4. It's not only that the team is so large that expectations are rising. It's the form. A tennis player at the end of her best run. The pole vaulter with the record he's attempting to break again. A two-time Olympic gold medalist, who has one hole in his trophy case. This is the team that's not looking for gold, some of whom are expected to be in the medal finals.
The players that will take that baggage to Aichi-Nagoya and the name that will be under the radar for betters and fans.
There is a story where Alex Eala is still the young hopeful, the "one to watch." That story is over. The world No. 18 enters the Asian Games 2026 after winning her maiden WTA title in Washington D.C. and advancing to the third round of the U.S. Open, a summer that has been kind enough for her to forgo the WTA 1000 China Open to be here.
It's not a decision that has been taken for nothing. Eala has been facing the possibility of a $10,000 sanction and ranking consideration for missing a pro-mandated WTA 1000 event, and the Philippine Tennis Association (PHILTA) has appealed for an exemption to the WTA. The WTA has yet to make a ruling as of mid-September, but PHILTA has said that Eala will take part in the Asian Games, no matter what happens. Tjen, who previously played doubles with Eala, has withdrawn due to non-exemption from the Asian Games 2026. In the women's singles entry list, Eala is ranked as the top player on the WTA.
Eala competed in the event and won two bronze medals, in singles and mixed doubles, in Hangzhou. She's returned to Asian competition with a new, tougher, and grown-up attitude and has refused to compare her performance against Asian players and is now playing against the best in the world and beating some of them. When the tennis draw opens, the first thing you'll hear her do on the court is NOT "for the gold. She will be demonstrating the progress of Filipino tennis in three years and her willingness to go to the ends of the earth to represent it.
Some athletes strive to make a record. EJ Obiena is on a hunt for his own. The reigning Asian Games 2026 pole vault champion brings the Asian Games record of 5.90m (Hangzhou 2023) with him, as well as the Asian record of 6.00m (from the World Championships in Glasgow 2023). He has already done more than anyone else in the field — twice.
It doesn't necessarily mean it's final. Seifeldin Abdelsalam of Qatar and Chenyang Li of China have both set career-best records this season (5.90m and 5.81m, respectively) filling a gap that seemed to have grown even larger. Obiena replied, clearing 5.91m, a season-best, to win in Poland this August. Nine gold medals and thirteen podium finishes in one season—add it up! The field is coming closer and closer. Obiena remains the target of everyone's attention.
Every successful career has a gap, and it is this gap that stands out because all other elements are filled in. But for Carlos Yulo, two-time Olympic gold medalist, world and Asian champion, it's a medal in the Asian Games. He's experienced nearly everything that the sport has to offer.
It is a shot that he gets from Nagoya to close in his own home turf. Yulo has trained extensively in Japan and arrives as an Olympic champion in two disciplines — floor exercise and vault — in which he will be the best equipped to capitalize on his chances. He will have to work for it from Chinese Zhang Boheng and Japanese superstars Shinnosuke Oka and Daiki Hashimoto. And so will the moment: Yulo's younger brother Karl Eldrew Yulo will be taking on the same stage of the Asiad, while a personal quest is set to be layered over an existing family one.
Nesthy Petecio is a Tokyo Olympian with a silver and a Paris Olympian with a bronze. What she is missing is Asian Games gold, and as the Games organizers dropped her preferred class of featherweight in favour of a larger class for 60kg, she is being pushed into a bigger class than she is used to competing in.
It's a type of adjustment that could derail a lesser competitor. Petecio's career has been about taking things that are bad and making them work for him — going on speed and experience against players who have more power and reach. She's among the seven Filipino boxers who are clamoring for a medal in Aichi-Nagoya and the national boxing team has openly admitted that it is aiming to put an end to its gold drought in the Asian Games 2026 after 16 years. It's just another iteration of Petecio's battle, on a larger scale, on a bigger distance to bridge.
This section did NOT age as any Filipino basketballer would've liked. Gilas Pilipinas achieved something that no Philippine men's basketball team has ever done in 60 years in 2023—winning gold medals at the Asian Games. The maiden title defense is already complete — the men's team is out in the quarter-final round after dropping a 105-61 blowout to China in Sept. It was to be at the Aichi International Arena, where China was ahead 66-30 at half-time. The 44-point deficit was the end of the line and the Philippines lost a key third-place finish to the tournament, having stunned the same China team in the 2023 semifinals to secure gold, three years ago. Their lack of shooting size and size when it mattered most was the result of head coach Tim Cone's squad, which featured PBA players Robert Bolick, RJ Abarrientos, Adrian Nocum, Sedrick Barefield, Don Trollano, Jerrick Ahanmisi, Justin Arana, Justine Baltazar, Brandon Bates, Brandon Ganuelas-Rosser and Zavier Lucero, and who also had Justin Brownlee missing due to injury.
There's a brighter alternative – Gilas Pilipinas' women's team started their own Asian Games campaign with a rout of Kazakhstan on Sept. 17—The country's basketball program has a second chance at saving the tournament and a medal hope in the sport that is most important to Filipino fans.
Some athletes fight for their title by repeating what helped them win the previous one. Annie's defending hers with some extra difficulty. The current Asian Games jiu-jitsu champ in the 57-kilogram class is stepping down to 52 kilos in Nagoya — but that's just the next step on the résumé for Ramirez.
Last year only: Gold at the 2026 JJIF World Championship in Abu Dhabi, Gold at the Asian Jiu-Jitsu Championship and Gold at the Asian Beach Games. There was a change in weight class. The results haven't.
There is a name which is not on the marquee for each Games. This year, it's Chino Sy.
The 25-year-old judoka is coming into the Asian Games with a double gold medal from the Southeast Asian Games held last December. What sets Sy apart is the preparation he has undergone: He's been training at Tenri University in Osaka, where judoka have been producing world-class athletes and Olympians consistently, and he came to Japan weeks ahead of the event to acclimate himself to the country before the battle began.
Away from the pressure of expectations from the previous Asiad. No history to defend, nor is there any to be defended. A plain-vanilla type who has simply executed his duties perfectly to get to his first championship at the continent's biggest event — the type of athlete that gets better than he's billed to be.
The Philippines enters the second half of the Aichi-Nagoya with a downswing in their fortunes, as their men's basketball team hung up an early losing streak and their women's team is rolling out a big winner opener. With one of the country's marquee teams eliminated, the prospect of a dark-horse judoka with nothing to lose, a healthy Eala (in line with WTA rules) and a dominant Obiena, plus a boxing team hunting their first Asiad gold in 16 years, there's still plenty of a road to a top four finish in Hangzhou.
The Games continue until Oct. 4. If you're a fan here in the country, then the tennis draw, Yulo and Obiena finals, boxing medal rounds and Gilas Pilipinas women's basketball bracket are the most likely to determine if this will be one of the country's top Asian Games 2026 performances in years.
As for this game, odds are not usually provided for individual medals or the futures markets for various sporting events that are part of the Olympics event (Asiad tennis, pole vault, gymnastics, judo, jiu-jitsu, and so forth) in mainstream Philippine sportsbooks, including OKBet. A quick search of panalo789bet.com and panalo789bet.com revealed no published Asian Games 2026 props for Eala, Obiena, Yulo or the other names mentioned above — which is the same as the availability of these options locally, as these are not standard bookmaker markets but rather amateur/national-federation events. Team basketball tournament-winner odds are the more popular exception, though this time the Gilas Pilipinas men's side is now a thing of the past.
Here's what OKBet has to offer:
PAGCOR Licensed - All markets are operated by a platform that is licensed in the Philippines, as indicated by the PAGCOR License Number at the bottom of the website.
PBA and NBA coverage - PBA coverage of several players from the Gilas Pilipinas Asiad (Bolick, Abarrientos, Trollano, and others) remain in the PBA so their league performance and news can be followed throughout the year, not just during the Asiad.
Instant deposits - GCash and Maya deposits tend to be immediate.
Responsible-gambling features embedded - Deposit limits and timeouts are found right in account settings.
For the trading/marketing team: If an Asiad-specific promo or basketball-related market does get live during the Games, replace this section with the details, but as of this writing there's nothing that has been publicly posted that supports the odds callout in the original brief.
If you're interested in finding out how PBA players do after Asiad basketball ends, see our guides to NBA odds today and NBA betting tips and expert picks.
The 20th Asian Games, hosting in Aichi and Nagoya, Japan, will run through Oct. 4, 2026, but the team sports competition has already commenced ahead of the formal start of the competitions in the Sept. 19 opening ceremony.
Over 450 athletes (reported up to 464) are taking part in 38 events, the biggest Asian Games team ever sent by the country since the 1994 Games in Hiroshima.
The Philippines won four gold, two silver and 12 bronze medals during the Asian Games in Hangzhou, China in 2023.
No. The men's team, which lost the quarter final to China 105-61 on Sept., was eliminated. The historic gold medal winning streak from 2023 will end at the 15, 2026 finish line.
She intends to. The WTA 1000 was not mandatory for Eala, who faced the possibility of ranking penalty and a fine for missing the event, so she opted to go to Nagoya instead. The Philippine Tennis Association has asked for an exemption from WTA and has stated that Eala will play regardless of the final decision of the WTA.
The country still has strong gold medal contenders like Alex Eala (tennis), EJ Obiena (pole vault), Carlos Yulo (gymnastics), Nesthy Petecio (boxing), the Gilas Pilipinas women's basketball team, and Annie Ramirez (jiu-jitsu).
Under-the-radar gold medal prospect Judoka Chino Sy is still poised for another double gold at the 2025 Southeast Asian Games after his outstanding performance in the men's 100-kilogram category, which he had managed over the last few months in Japan.
At the time of this writing, OKBet's public sportsbook and sports content site haven't yet added medal odds or futures betting on individual events such as tennis, pole vault, gymnastics, or judo; this is a format that isn't common throughout Philippine sportsbooks as they tend to be more focused on team sports like basketball and football.
