Gatchalian, Granger face off in semis

Unheralded Jonee Gatchalian booted out compatriot Biboy Rivera in the first round then thwarted second seed Nardi Mohn Noor of Malaysia in the next to arrange a semifinal clash with reigning grandslam champion Purvis Granger in the Aviva Bowling Tour Indonesia leg at the Jaya Ancol Bowl in Jakarta Sunday night.

It was actually an all-Filipino semis with Granger, one of the coaches in the RP national squad, carrying the Philippine tricolors in the event serving as the fourth leg of the six-stage series culminating in the Grand Slam Finals in Singapore early next year.

Gatchalian, Granger, Rivera and Chester King made it to the top 14 of the Masters finals of the first Indonesia International Open Championships. But King bowed out right in the first round when he lost to Indon David Sitorous, 148-181.

Gatchalian kept the momentum of his big 223-210 victory over Rivera in the opening round as he cut the fancied Noor in the second round, 245-205, only to find himself being lined up against Granger, who won the Manila leg of this event last June.

The bespectacled Granger, who worked beside RP team head coach Johnson Cheng in the Busan Asian Games last year, swamped Lenny Lim of Singapore, 247-183, then showed superb form to oust Australian Andrew Frawley, 267-229.

However, disaster struck the lone Filipina qualifier as Liza del Rosario, who finished third in the Masters finals, struggled and lost to Alice Tay of Singapore, 195-247, in the first round.

Advancing to the semis in the distaff side were local bets Happy Soediyono and newcomer Lily Suhaimi along with Hong Kong leg champion Vanessa Fung and Singapore’s Michelle Kwang.

The semifinals in both divisions are being played at presstime with the finals set late Monday night.

The Aviva Asian Bowling Tour provides the first regional ranking system for bowlers. The Tour also features $226,000 in prize money. The Tour is sponsored by Aviva (previously known as CGU), one of the largest insurance companies in the world, and sanctioned by the Asian Bowling Federation and each country’s bowling association.