WC bowl elims on

The long-drawn-out 2002 Bowling World Cup eliminations start today in 24 centers in Metro Manila and the provinces.

Bowlers aspiring to represent the Philippines in the 38th World Cup international finals set Oct. 20-26 at the Toss Bowling Hall in Riga, Latvia can compete in any of the following centers:

Greenbelt Bowl, EDSA Lanes, Metropolis Alabang, Coastal Lanes, Greenlanes, Paeng’s Skybowl, Astrobowl, Paeng’s Sugarbowl, Puyat Sports Baguio, Paeng’s Towncenter, Xybr Bowl, Power Bowl, Paeng’s Freedom Imus, SM West, Q Plaza, Bowling Inn, Commonwealth, Coronado Makati, Pearl Plaza, SM Fairview, Superbowl, SM Megamall, Grand Central and Paeng’s Midtown.

There will be two qualifying periods — the first from June 17 to the night before the center finals (July 14 to 19) and the second from July 20 to the night before the center finals (Aug. 25-30).

The national finals will be held on Sept. 1 (for ladies) and Sept. 2 (for men) at EDSA Lanes, Sept. 4 at SM Megamall and Sept. 6 at Power Bowl.

There will be a new format for this year’s competition.

Starting from scratch, the top eight men and lady bowlers will have a "seeding" rank based on their total pinfalls after the first two days of play (24 games for men and 20 for ladies). The male and female bowlers with the most pins will be seeded first, the second to be ranked No. 2 and the others from three to eighth, based on their scores.

The pairings will be 1 versus 8, 2 vs 7, 3 vs 6 and 4 vs 5 in the quarterfinals. They play best-of-three games, with the winners advancing to the semifinals. The semifinal winners will then dispute the title.

The prizes are the trip to Latvia for the champions, P25,000 and P20,000 for the men’s and ladies’ runners-up, respectively; P15,000 and P12,000 for third, P6,000 and P5,000 for fourth, P2,700 and P2,300 for fifth, P2,600 and P2,200 for sixth, P2,500 and P2,100 for seventh and P2,400 and P2,000 for eighth.

Liza de Rosario and Benny Dytoc carried the RP colors in last year’s World Cup, with Del Rosario finishing a close runner-up in the ladies’ division.