Bowlers have chemistry to win it

They have trained long and hard for the coming Asian Games in Busan and now nearing their competitive peak in their bid to end a long gold medal slump. And yet, despite all the rigors and exacting regimen, and being at their level best, they also hope breaks will go their way in the day of reckoning. All because of the exacting short format.

"In a short six-game series anything can happen," said American coach Purvis Granger in a media forum recently. The other coach handling the team is Johnson Cheng.

"We’ll just see what happens because come tournament time, even the best bowlers from the other countries may not win," he said. "It’s a question of being in the right condition, right frame of mind. You must feel good on that day and just hope for the best," said four-time World Cup champion Paeng Nepomuceno, at 45 the acknowledged statesman of Philippine bowling.

The Filipino bowlers will vie for 10 golds in the Busan Games and more importantly recover some of the glory that once was the Philippines‚ when some of the magnificent local bowlers ruled the lanes of Asia and the world – notably Bong Coo, the late Lita Dela Rosa and, yes, the young Nepomuceno.

In fact, the last golds the Philippines won in the Asiad were courtesy of Coo and her gutsy team-of-five in 1986 in Seoul and this fortnight of competition in Busan gives the RP bowlers the opportunity to relive the golden days 16 years ago and give the nation a balm, even fleeting, to all its present woes.

"We can be that superpower again, the No. 1 in Asia, specially with the young team we have right now," said Philippine Bowling Congress secretary-general Danny Santos.

With Nepomuceno is an equally multi-titled cast led by Liza del Rosario, one of the best in Asia at the moment. The others are Chester King, World Cup-bound CJ Suarez, RJ Bautista, Botchok Rey, Biboy Rivera, Liza Clutario, Irene Garcia Benitez, Jojo Canare, who is also going to the World Cup in Riga, Latvia, Cecilia Yap and Kathlyn Lopez.

Because of its solid and talent-laden roster, officials of the RP contingent are upbeat in predicting that the projected golds -- a modest seven and a bold 10 -- will come in three fronts, bowling being one of them. They will compete in singles, doubles, three-man, five-man, masters and the all-events.

Still there’s that almost a shootout of a format, a six-game series that is a true test, a sort of war of attrition among the fittest and the best and the Pinoy bowlers are all primed up for this and hopefully riding the breaks in the end.

"Malakas ang tsamba," said Nepomuceno. Said Del Rosario: "There’s no room for error and you must really be prepared. We are given two days to test the lanes, get adjusted to them so that when the tournament begins, you’re ready, focused."

The bemedalled Nepomuceno, a six-time world champion and three-time WBW World Bowler of the Year, is coming in with a victory in the Korean International Open held at the Home Plus Asiad Bowling Center, the same venue where the bowling events will be held in Busan.

A successful stint in the recent Asian Team Championship in Hongkong where the RP team won three golds -- two by Del Rosario in the singles and all events and one by Chester King and Rivera in the doubles -- also augured well for the Busan campaign since the squad would meet practically the same cast. And this would serve as a morale-boost for the team, particularly to Del Rosario.

"But winning in Hongkong and beating the same people going to Busan may work both ways. It means they expect so much from you, the pressure to deliver is there but at the same time you will meet the same people, and seeing us will deliver a strong message , that we are there to contend with. That put pressure on them," she said.

This is probably the best trained squad out to break the gold medal drought since Coo and Co. won two golds in Seoul in 1986.

"Overall we have a solid team. Korea is the strongest team but it will be under a lot of pressure; Japan, the Middle East countries, Malaysia and Singapore are also strong but we’re not afraid of them," said Granger, a former pro who once handled the Hongkong squad.

"Compared to other teams we have gotten much better. I think if we are not the best, then we are the second best," he added.