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| National coach and bowling legend Paeng Nepomuceno perks up his players during a break at the recent 42nd Hong Kong International Open tournament at SCAA Bowling Lanes. The Philippines brought home a gold medal in the Youth Under-18 category courtesy of Marwin Tan, and a bronze in the Men's Open captured by Kenneth Chua. The Filipino delegation was led by Philippine Bowling Federation vice president Steve Robles, seated left. |
Team Philippines’ hopes for a Masters trophy faded on the last day of the 42nd Hong Kong International Open Bowling Championships held in mid-July, but the 12-man squad still went home jubilant with two medals, a gold and a bronze.
Seventeen-year-old Marwin Tan captured the gold medal for youth high game after scuttling 643 pins in the qualifying round of the youth under-18 competition at the South China Athletic Association Bowling Lanes on July 15.
In the youth under-18 Masters finals, Tan strung a 190-192-202-189-208-214 series, averaging 199.3, for a total of 1195 pins. That was good for fourth place, but was 66 pins off the winner, Moustafa Almousavi of Kuwait, who rolled 248-192-220-221-167-213 for 1261.
Kenneth Chua rolled a series of 182-265-248, averaging 231.67 for a score of 695 pinfalls in the men open singles. His score was 19 pins adrift of Hong Kong’s Tony Wong, who made 714 via a 235-212-267 series, or an average of 238 pins, to take the trophy.
Chua was only two pins behind Indonesian silver medalist Rezaldy Diwan, who dropped 697 pinfalls, averaging 232.33 in a 239-168-290 series.
Twenty-five-year-old Chua, who raised hopes for the country’s win in the men’s Masters after topping the Stage I finals on July 16, crashed to 19th place in the Stage II finals. Chua started slow, dropping 191 pins in the first of the eight-game series, then got back into contention with 247 in the second, before easing to 201.
But he crashed in the fourth with just 170, then tried to bounce back with a 192. But his succeeding pinfalls of 181- 161-191 only gave him a total score of 1542, well behind the 1730 chalked up by the winner, Ryan Lalisang of Indonesia.
In Stage I the previous day, Chua, a two-time Male Bowler of the Year awardee, rolled a series of 226-248-230-297-190-182-221-222 for 1806, averaging 225.75 to become the man to beat in the next stage.
He brushed aside an early challenge by Thai kegler Yannaphon Larpapharat, who finished second with a 246-189-242-187-223-234-229-208 series for a score of 1758.
Liza del Rosario and Krizziah Lyn Tabora also lifted Team Philippines’ spirits on July 15 when Del Rosario climbed to No 4 in the women’s open Stage 1 finals with 1654 pinfalls, and Tabora landed on No 14 with 1540 to advance to Stage II.
Their compatriot Liza Clutario missed the cut with just one pin behind Hong Kong’s Chloe Lee, who made the Top 15 cut-off with 1518.
However, Del Rosario only managed to rack up 1571 pins with a series of 212-178-201-160-220-213-182-205, averaging 196.39 pins and 164 off stage winner Lim So Hyun of Korea who strung 234-205-195-236-209-227-242-187 for a total of 1735.
Tabora scored 1544 and finished in 14th place via a 187-166-218-182-229-190-185-187 series, averaging 193 pins. She was 191 pins off the leader Lim.
